'Justin Timberlake's Lyme disease can be hellish - and I've learned the hard way'
A British mum has revealed what life might be like for Justin Timberlake living with the "relentlessly debilitating" Lyme disease.
Kirstie Haysman was struck down by the bacterial infection - spread to humans through infected ticks - and it is led to her using a wheelchair. The 36-year-old mum yesterday said "her heart goes out" to pop legend Justin Timberlake, who confirmed this week he has been diagnosed with Lyme disease.
Speaking from her home in Watford, Hertfordshire, Kirstie said her daughter Harriet has been tested for the disease - and this recently came back as positive. Kirstie added: "[Lyme disease] is a devastating diagnosis and our hearts really do go out to him. I'm sure Justin is realising now that it affects everything - it's your nervous system, your joints and chronic fatigue. The chronic fatigue especially is something you can't even fathom until you're in it." It comes after the NHS warned a mouth symptom could be a sign of a life-shortening disease.
Kirstie enjoyed a career as a pageant queen but she can no longer work due to the crippling nature of the condition. Lyme disease is known to cause high temperature, fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, tiredness and loss of energy.
Harriet, 13, struggles with "seizure-like" blackouts and extreme fatigue, having been diagnosed with Lyme disease around one year after her mother. However, Kirstie recognised symptoms as early as 2015, signs she now knows were those of the infection. It took her years to get a diagnosis, after first being told she had rheumatoid arthritis.
"Justin's gone very viral within one of my Lyme disease support groups - I'm sure a lot of people within the group will be reaching out to him with words of support," Kirstie continued.
"It's hellish, to be honest. Once you've got Lyme disease chronically, you have to live with it for the rest of your life - it doesn't go away. My daughter has it now - two months ago, further tests showed it's caused deficiencies in iron and folic acid."
After the mum's hands became "disfigured" - leaving her with painful swollen joints and unable to pick things up - she pressed for another diagnosis and, upon researching Lyme disease, flew to Mexico for blood tests specifically for the infection. These came back positive so she was eventually diagnosed in February 2023.
Online reports say "Lyme disease cannot be inherited". MedlinePlus, part of the National Library of Medicine, says "the risk of certain complications of the condition may be influenced by inherited genetic factors, but the inheritance pattern is unknown".
But Harriet experiences blackouts, almost like seizures, and migraines frequently, including at school. Kirstie has offered advice to Justin Timberlake, after he announced his diagnosis. However, she also said: "It's devastating for him, and we're heartbroken. There's no positive spin - it's a terrible thing to live with."
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