Cannabis Gave Lonnie’s Life Back: Battling Lyme Disease

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Lonnie Graves, 42, is a Cannabis Warrior from Oregon that's battled Chronic Lyme Disease for nearly 33 years.

His battle started out in California, but a move to the neighboring state a few years back sealed his fate in the Cannabis Industry where he ended up with a job after a very interesting series of events. Lyme disease is mostly transmitted by nymphal ticks like the one that bit him. They’re tiny – about the size of the pin. They bite, transmit the microbe, and then drop off the majority of the time without the person ever knowing they were a bit. But what follows for many is years or even decades of treatments, discomfort, and in many cases total and complete disability.

In 1992 a tick found it’s way under my own skin so Lonnie’s story is a very familiar one. What’s the most intense thing about this is he works for SuperTrees CBD – a U.S. entity that’s helping us with supplies for the Million Milligram Giveaway. He’s an awesome guy that works for a compassionate company and has an interesting story – so let’s read it!

The SuperTrees Botanicals name is part of the bigger mission to create products customers will always look forward to using, which started with SuperTrees in 2005. The company wants to make sure every experience with their oils is a positive one – so they’re doing everything they can to promote and enhance wellness.

“I was bitten by a tick when I was 10 years old. I spent the next 10 days in the hospital while they tried to figure out what was wrong with me. My mom had just read an article about Lyme and noticed I had all of the common symptoms and signs. The doctors told her that she didn’t know what she was talking about and that “Lyme is a fad disease”. I was officially diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and an infection in my hip bones. The year was 1987. “

There are 20 known species of Borrelia (Lyme) that can cause human illness – it is not uncommon for people with Lyme disease to harbor at least two species. Beyond Borrelia, there are hundreds of species of stealth-type microbes that can be transmitted by ticks. Mycoplasma and Bartonella are the most common, but there are many many others. Most everyone on the planet harbors some stealth microbes without knowing it.

“I spent much of my life feeling as though I struggled in ways different to others but it wasn’t until 2014 after two failed back surgeries that I was officially diagnosed. The diagnosis was a welcome one as I finally had answers that I had hoped for so long.”

Like many with Lyme Disease and associated pain – he was stuck on pharmaceuticals – in my own fight against the same brutal immunological disorder caused by those dreaded ticks, it was Oxycontin and Fentanyl as well that gave the comfort needed. Lonnie shared “the path to healing was much more difficult. I lost 80 lbs, was confined to a bed, and was dealing with seizures and seemingly every symptom imaginable.”

He explained, “Medication after medication was prescribed to me for my pain, neurological issues, sleep, depression, etc. I was taking over 60 pills a day. I was prescribed high-dose Fentanyl patches and 12 Percocet daily just for pain. I was taking even more than that as I was addicted to the narcotics.”

“Cannabis entered into the picture and as I was able to figure out the dosages I needed I began to see changes and healing taking place. This took time and I had to be patient with myself as I figured out the best methods, dosages, and strains to use for my issues. I had used cannabis in high school for different reasons and had my own ideas/misconceptions about the plant that I had to work through. For years I struggled with the use of Cannabis as a moral issue.”

“Cannabis saved my life. Had it not been for this plant I would have taken my own life eventually. Unfortunately for those of us with Lyme, this is how life often ends, with suicide.”

“My family moved to Oregon a little over 3 years ago at which time I was still unable to work and in pretty poor health, although slowly improving. As a registered nurse, my wife got a job at the local clinic doing what she loves. The owner was nice enough to work around my health and let me work if and when I could, doing graphic design. This coupled with the Clinic’s care started to improve my wellness more and more.”

“The owner of the clinic also owns and operates a large tree nursery named SuperTrees. This nursery is a family-owned company that provides trees for many cities and municipalities but is most well known for the air pots that they grow the trees in. This ensures a quality root system and a hence, a quality tree.”

SuperTrees has taken such good care of Lonnie and his family – he keeps getting better and they keep getting happier. It’s people like him and companies like SuperTrees that make a difference in our industry.

“The owner’s father had been taking CBD for some time for his seizures. Looking at the bottle his father was taking, he realized that the quality was not good and that his father deserved a better quality medicine. He spoke to his brother who is a Chemical Engineer about the processes to make quality medicine. They realized that with the expertise they had in growing, coupled with the ability to control the process from start to finish, they could truly make a quality product without the ridiculous price tag.”

“I was asked to join the team in 2017 and we began pursuing creating the best quality medicine we can make at the best value. I am creating medicine for sensitive bodies like my own. It has to be free of pesticides and heavy metals. It has to be free of residual solvents. It has to be quality. We use organic growing practices, CO2 extraction methods, and are third-party tested throughout the process.”

It’s incredible to see smiles like this – a life transformed – and all of it is due to the beautiful cannabis plant.

Lonnie is so sincere in his mission, “We want to help people. This extends from ourselves to our family, to those in need.” And that’s why he loves SuperTrees as he told me – because it’s a plant-based, family-owned company that is committed to the quality of products and not just profit. They personally grow and extract from the plants they create. Lonnie stated, “We have our own strains to ensure that we can create the best natural and herbal supplements.”

Lonnie stays busy nowadays working to make medicine for the masses at SuperTrees

“With the difficult times we’re going through our company decided to go with a ‘First Bottle is on the House’ policy to help people out right now – we’re giving away 1,000 products. This is a big reason why we’re helping with Mike’s Million Milligram Giveaway by giving a base product at well below any type of wholesale cost so he can bring his mission to fruition – at SuperTrees our focus is to get access to the people that need this medicine the most. As people who rely on these products ourselves, we understand the situation we are in and want to play our part.”

What a great story of success and a beautiful family to boot. What seemed to be a sudden move to another state for a fresh start wasn’t simple for them. But, with perseverance and destiny on their side, their little family found a new home and a new life with so much promise all based on the medicine found in a plant instead of a bottle.

Lonnie is a lot like me in many ways – we both lost years of our lives based on the fact doctors couldn’t accurately diagnose our issues and then gave us strong opioids instead of looking deeper into the health issues we both had. The more drugs we’re given the lower our immunity drops and the harder the Lyme Disease attacks us. It’s a brutal and wicked catch 22 as doctors can’t write a prescription for the plant and even if they could 99% would be very clueless about how to advise a patient.

As the Lonnie’s of this world tell their story more and more people are turning to plant medicine and resuming life when it had been previously left behind due to illnesses that couldn’t be controlled with western medicines. Bravo to the plant and to patients like Lonnie who are willing to share.