Resident Who Fought State Insurance Changes Facing Health Battle of Her Own

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While she was advocating on behalf of several hundred thousand state employees for better insurance options from the state, Ashley Cline kept quiet about a personal health challenge that was quickly turning into a crisis.

For the better part of a year, the Canton resident, who was one of the lead organizers of Teachers Rally Against Georgia Insurance Changes, or TRAGIC, has been battling a slew of mystery illnesses that eventually led doctors to diagnose her with Lyme Disease.

And now that she’s gone public, the community is now advocating on her behalf. Over $13,000 has been raised to help Cline pay for the treatments needed to defeat the disease. Husband Nate Cline, a Creekview High School teacher, created a GoFundMe page titled Ashley vs. Lyme to document his wife’s struggles.

Cline’s activism started in 2013 after the Georgia Department of Community Health implemented a number of changes to its State Health Benefit Plan that led to high medical costs for the nearly 700,000 state employees on the plan. The creation of TRAGIC and the outcry from the employees led the state to make changes more favorable to the employees and their families.

Cline’s battle with Lyme Disease started after she was bitten by a tick in October 2013. A few weeks after the bite, a mysterious rash appeared on both of her forearms. Four weeks later, she began to battle a slew of neurological symptoms that left her bed-ridden and too weak to do the simplest tasks.

Cline and her husband spent a year making frequent trips to the emergency room and working to fight the symptoms that initially led doctors to diagnose her with illnesses such as fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis.

Additionally, Cline said some doctors refused to test her for Lyme Disease due to the perception that the disease can’t be contracted in Georgia. Eventually, an infections disease doctor diagnosed the Canton resident with Lyme.

The frustrating aspect Cline said of battling the disease is “you don’t look sick.”

“It’s not an outward disease,” she said, adding the disease, if untreated, can eventually lead to visible symptoms impacting a person’s ability to work and even move around. “You look like a perfectly healthy person, but you’re in excruciating pain on a day-to-day basis.”

Throughout the month of December, the mother of two made five trips to the emergency room and spent the majority of the month curled up in bed due to the severe symptoms.

Cline, an academic advisor for the Virtual School, said she initially kept the news of her battle private, but later decided to come forward and make her story public.

“We wanted people to know because I had no idea you can get this disease in Georgia,” she said. “I didn’t have to travel anywhere to get it. I got it from my backyard here in Canton. So, I just knew there had to be more people here that are going through this.”

Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by infected ticks. According to the Centers For Disease Control, the most common symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and skin rash called erythema migrans. If not treated, the infection can spread to joins, the heart and the nervous system.

The diagnosis has turned the family’s routine upside down. Cline said the family has had to cope with the fact that Lyme has transformed a once-active mother to one who is virtually ”disabled.” Additionally, she is unable to attend her daughter’s school functions, as those visits often saps her energy.

She’s also had to take a step back from her activism with TRAGIC and had to utilize the Family Medical Leave Act. She’s currently hooked up to a peripherally inserted central catheter, or PICC, line where she’s given daily IV treatments of antibiotics.

“it is completely taken over our lives,” she said.

Cline said doctors estimate she will have the line inserted in her arm for four to six weeks and will have to take a year’s worth of antibiotics. The bacteria from the disease has penetrated Cline’s tissues and is hiding ”behind biofilm that the antibiotics may not be able to treat,” the GoFundMe page notes.

The infections disease doctor is recommending what’s called a hyperbaric treatment, which will force the bacteria in Cline’s system out of hiding so the antibiotics can do their job.

That treatment is not covered by Cline’s insurance, so the family is hoping the community will continue to support the fundraising efforts.

Cline said she’s been overwhelmed by the community outreach and support of her and her family’s predicament.

“We knew we could depend on our families, but we really had no idea how many people were supportive in the community,” she said, adding the support has been a ”blessing in disguise.”

The Canton mother added she hopes other residents possibly suffering from Lyme Disease will read her story and feel inspired to continue their fight towards a clean bill of health. 

“If they do have Lyme, they should never give up and not take no for an answer,” she said. “Just keep pushing.”