FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (June 26, 2020) – Sara Padilla can't recall how it happened, nor can she remember any symptoms. But nearly four years ago, her life, as she knew it, changed.
"The crazy thing is, I don't remember a rash or being bit by a tick," said Padilla, a rising senior on the Northern Arizona golf team. "Towards the end of my first semester, I started getting really sick. I had a lot of fatigue and I kept getting sick. I had no immune system and they kept saying I had the flu. I was blacking out at workouts and no one could figure out why."
As it turns out, Padilla, whose college career began at Loyola University Chicago, had contracted Lyme disease.
Lyme disease is a tick borne illness that infects 300,000 people a year
according to the CDC. If caught early and properly diagnosed, Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics; however, many people like Padilla are not as fortunate leading to long term symptoms.
An early symptom when Lyme disease is first contracted is a bullseye rash, but it is not as common as one would hope. Fewer than 50 percent of patients with Lyme disease recall any signs of a rash, and with no reliable test to diagnose the illness, the average patient sees five doctors over two years before being properly diagnosed.
"When you first contract the illness you experience flu-like systems and it mimics other things so it's hard to diagnose," Padilla said. "For example I was told I had the flu for over a year. That's the hardest challenge."
Count Padilla among those who doesn't remember how or when she first contracted the illness. However, her bout with Lyme disease traces back to the fall of 2016 as a freshman at Loyola.
What she does remember is a former teammate of hers, who Padilla noticed began to be absent from workouts and golf. It turns out, her teammate had contracted Lyme disease and was undergoing early treatment after noticing a rash.
With no visible signs of Lyme disease, Padilla wasn't as fortunate, and in January of 2017 – the start of her second semester – she continued to get sick frequently and was told it was anything from bronchitis to the flu to pneumonia.
Still, Padilla fought through and became a mainstay in the Loyola lineup as a true freshman, seeing action in four of the team's five tournaments during the spring season. She closed her first season with a 42nd place finish at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, and excelled academically earning All-American Scholar accolades by the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA).
It wasn't until a vacation with her mom to the Dominican Republic in August right before what would have been her second year at Loyola that her disease – and misdiagnosis – hit rock bottom.
"I had seizures and I was vomiting; lots of crazy stuff," Padilla said. "I came back and saw every specialist you could imagine and no one could figure it out."
Looking back at her former teammate's Lyme disease diagnosis, Padilla finally requested a test for Lyme herself. The test came back positive, and while it was nearly a year after she first experienced symptoms, Padilla finally had her answer.
Prior to seeing her teammate go through the Lyme treatment, Padilla had never heard of Lyme disease. Without that knowledge, she would never had suggested the test.
While there was immediate relief that came with the proper diagnosis, the relief quickly became a reality check.
"I was very relieved at first until I realized how difficult it is to treat," Padilla said. "If you don't catch it within a month – maybe two months – with antibiotics, it's pretty much impossible to treat. It was great to have an answer but it was extremely difficult to hear that this is my new life and I have to maintain treatments for many years to come."
After heading back to Loyola for a month to start her sophomore year, she opted to return home. When she wasn't bedridden, her "new" life was often dependent on a wheelchair. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native moved back to Arizona and took the 2017-18 academic year off from school.
The year off provided her with perspective. Although she went a calendar year without a diagnosis, there are those in the Lyme community whom Padilla has come in contact with who hadn't been diagnosed for more than a decade.
It also led her back to the golf course, where she had spent so much of her life since picking up the sport when she was five years old. Coming out of Pinnacle High School graduate where she was a four-year state qualifier and top 10 finisher at the 2015 Arizona High School State Championship, NAU head coach
Brad Bedortha had recruited Padilla.
"Sara was, and still is, high-character and a great teammate," Bedortha said about his initial recruitment of Padilla. "Her golf game had really been developing and getting better and I felt like she could really develop and improve."
Two years after her initial recruitment, with her family and support group close to her, Padilla was a Lumberjack and back on the links.
Since arriving on the Mountain Campus in the fall of 2018, Padilla has competed in 12 tournaments for the 'Jacks and tied for 31st at the Big Sky Championship in 2019. She has earned two Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete awards and was named both a Big Sky All-Academic honoree and WGCA All-American Scholar while working towards her degree in management.
That is not to say that Padilla has not had challenges. Every day is a potential battle.
"My current symptoms that I deal with are mostly fatigue and fever and joint pain," Padilla said. "There are days – maybe once or twice a month – where I can't get out of bed, but that's way better than where I was. Coach has been awesome with that because he knows how much I love golf and how much I love to compete. I'm still able to compete with the exception of a bad day here and there."
Through it all, Padilla is determined to not let Lyme kill her vibe. She has been heavily involved with Focus on Lyme, a non-profit organization with the mission to improve diagnostics, treatment, prevention and advocacy for patients suffering from Lyme and other tick borne diseases based out of Phoenix.
Padilla was the honorary speaker at a Focus on Lyme event at Pine Canyon Club in Flagstaff last fall and will be sharing her journey again at an event in Scottsdale this October. Her journey has taken her from being a healthy Division I student-athlete to dealing with long-term effects as a result of Lyme, but that will not stop her from seeing the bigger picture.
It's been challenging; it's the hardest thing I've ever gone through in my life," Padilla said. "But in a lot of ways I'm really grateful. I used to get so frustrated with golf because I lived in a bubble. Now that's not the case. Lyme has made me appreciate golfing. I couldn't play for six months. I learned a lot of things, but it's definitely been challenging."
The way Padilla has handled those challenges is not lost on Bedortha or her teammates.
"I, as the coach, and her teammates don't even realize how hard she has it because she handles it so well," Bedortha said. "It's amazing that she's been able to do what she does on a daily basis. Knowing that she's going to graduate with her college degree and that's she been able to golf and compete, two things that she loves, it's inspiring."
On track to graduate from NAU this December, Padilla hopes to be an inspiration for many others through work in health care. Forty percent of Lyme patients end up with long term health problems.
With new Lyme disease cases outpacing Hepatitis, HIV and breast cancer annually, there is even more reason for Padilla to advocate for Lyme awareness.
"I believe I've been put in this situation for a reason," Padilla said. "We need to find a cure and I see myself being an advocate in the future. I want to help people so they don't suffer in ways that I have. The good thing is, I'm young and I'm a fighter."
Note: All data and facts provided by Focus on Lyme.
