Family Dog Diagnosed With Lyme Years Before 4 Sick Siblings

When Makalea's family dog Molly developed a bull's-eye rash around a tick bite, their veterinarian immediately diagnosed Lyme disease and started treatment. Molly recovered quickly and lived a full life to age 16.

Meanwhile, Makalea and her three younger siblings spent nearly 10 years bouncing between doctors with unexplained joint pain, fatigue, and mysterious symptoms no one could identify. The answer was right there in Molly's medical records the whole time.

Makalea was a teenager when her joint pain started with no clear cause. Her three younger siblings each battled their own puzzling health problems around the same period. They all remember pulling ticks off themselves as kids, but none of them mentioned it to doctors because they never developed the famous bull's-eye rash.

That missing rash kept them sick for a decade. "It turns out, it's a myth that Lyme disease always means you get a bull's-eye rash," Makalea told Newsweek.

She's absolutely right. The CDC confirms that only 70% to 80% of Lyme patients ever develop any rash at all, and most of those aren't the classic target pattern people expect. Many rashes appear as simple red or purple ovals in hard-to-see places like the scalp or back of the thigh.

Makalea finally got her diagnosis in early 2020. Her siblings received their answers over the following years. Between the four of them, doctors eventually identified Lyme disease along with several co-infections including Bartonella and Babesia.

The Ripple Effect

Makalea is now about 90% recovered after years of treatment. She's turned her family's frustrating experience into a mission, sharing Lyme awareness content with a substantial following on Instagram and TikTok.

Her message is reaching people who desperately need it. Thousands now know that any tick bite deserves a conversation with your doctor, rash or not, and that flu-like symptoms that won't go away warrant investigation.

"If I had caught Lyme early, my life could've been so different," she said. "So I hope sharing our story helps others avoid that path."

The family still jokes about how their dog got better medical care than they did, but Makalea's advocacy is ensuring other families won't have to spend a decade searching for answers that could come in days.