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<\/a><\/p>\nRick often says, \u201cAlec\u2019s spirit lives on through us.\u201d That single sentence explains why Alec\u2019s Place exists.<\/p>\n
As an anesthesiologist with decades of medical experience, Rick never imagined that his own family would spend years searching for answers while his son slowly disappeared before their eyes.<\/p>\n
A young man\u2019s life inexplicably changes Alec Dulude<\/p>\n Alec was an engineering student at Oregon State University, an accomplished athlete, an entrepreneur, an outdoor enthusiast, and someone who embraced life\u2019s biggest challenges. Whether he was mountain biking, fly fishing, skiing, or working as a whitewater guide, Alec approached life with remarkable energy and determination.<\/p>\n When his health began to change, the symptoms did not initially point toward Lyme disease. Instead, the family watched as debilitating fatigue, insomnia, gastrointestinal problems, anxiety, obsessive thoughts, depression, and eventually psychosis transformed the young man they knew.<\/p>\n Like countless families facing unexplained neuropsychiatric illness, they sought help from specialist after specialist. Neurologists, psychiatrists, infectious disease physicians, and other experts all searched for answers, yet the underlying cause remained hidden.<\/p>\n Only much later did testing reveal Lyme disease and its common coinfection Bartonella.<\/p>\n For Rick, the realization was devastating because it came after years of suffering that might have unfolded differently had tick-borne disease been considered earlier. Appropriate treatment finally began, and there were encouraging signs that Alec was improving.<\/p>\n His personality began to return. He smiled again. He laughed with his family. He planned a ski trip with his mother, sister, and cousins. For a brief time, they caught a glimpse of the son they had feared was gone forever.<\/p>\n Tragically, Alec died by suicide in April 2023 before his recovery could continue.<\/p>\n For many parents, such a loss would understandably mark the end of the story. For Rick and Pam Dulude, it became the beginning of a new mission.<\/p>\n Sharing their story publicly<\/p>\n Rather than withdrawing from the world, they made the courageous decision to tell Alec\u2019s story widely. They partnered with Terri McCormick in Being Misdiagnosed. They spoke with physicians, researchers, and patient advocates. They continue to educate families about the often-overlooked neurological and psychiatric manifestations of Lyme disease and Bartonella.<\/p>\n The organization reflects everything Alec represented: compassion, perseverance, curiosity, and service. Its mission is to empower doctors and patients to recognize the neuropsychiatric signs of tick-borne disease.<\/p>\n That mission reflects Rick\u2019s own approach.<\/p>\n Rick is not interested in assigning blame. Instead, he wants to encourage curiosity and a willingness among healthcare providers to consider that infections may sometimes underlie severe psychiatric symptoms.<\/p>\n That perspective carries particular weight because it comes from someone who has spent his career inside the medical profession. Rick speaks respectfully of his colleagues and recognizes that physicians can only diagnose what they have been taught to recognize.<\/p>\n Yet he also believes medicine must continue learning. Too many clinicians receive little education about the neuropsychiatric effects of Lyme disease and associated infections, leaving patients and families searching for answers that remain just outside the traditional diagnostic framework.<\/p>\n Encouraging doctors to listen to their patients Dr. Rick Dulude<\/p>\n Throughout our conversation, Rick returned repeatedly to one theme: listening.<\/p>\n \u201cListen to patients,\u201d he told me. \u201cThey often have the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n Those words apply not only to physicians but also to families. Parents know when something about their child has fundamentally changed. Patients know when the diagnosis they have been given does not fully explain what they are experiencing.<\/p>\n Rick encourages people to continue asking questions, seeking second opinions, and remaining open to possibilities that others may overlook.<\/p>\n His advocacy also extends to scientific research. Following Alec\u2019s death, the family donated tissue to researchers studying tick-borne diseases in hopes of advancing our understanding of how infections such as Borrelia and Bartonella affect the brain. Even in death, Alec continues contributing to knowledge that may eventually improve diagnosis and treatment for others.<\/p>\n That willingness to think beyond personal grief is what makes Alec\u2019s Place so remarkable. It is not simply a memorial to a beloved son. It is an active commitment to changing lives.<\/p>\n Your story may help others heal<\/p>\n Someone may realize that sudden psychiatric symptoms deserve a broader medical evaluation. A physician may remember Rick\u2019s story when faced with a difficult patient. A researcher may find renewed motivation to pursue answers that have remained elusive for far too long.<\/p>\n Those possibilities are exactly why Rick continues speaking, even though each interview requires revisiting memories no parent should ever have to relive.<\/p>\n For those of us in the Lyme community, it is easy to become overwhelmed by stories of delayed diagnoses, chronic illness, and loss. Those realities are undeniably part of our shared experience. Yet stories like Rick\u2019s remind us that advocacy can transform grief into something meaningful. Education can save lives. Research can create new possibilities. Compassion can give families the strength to keep moving forward.<\/p>\n Alec\u2019s story will always be tragic. But because of Rick, Pam, Allison, Terri McCormick, and everyone involved with Alec\u2019s Place, it is no longer only a story about loss.<\/p>\n It is a story about purpose, courage, and hope.<\/p>\n And if one family finds answers sooner because Rick chose to tell his son\u2019s story instead of carrying it silently, then Alec\u2019s legacy will continue touching lives for generations to come.<\/p>\n Click here to listen to all episodes of the Love, Hope, Lyme Podcast<\/a> or on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Fred Diamond is based in Fairfax, Virginia. He doesn\u2019t have Lyme but wrote his popular book, \u201cLove, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know\u201d to understand what Lyme survivors go through. The book is available on Amazon and the e-version (pdf) of the book is always free to Lyme survivors. PM Fred on Facebook or LinkedIn for your copy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Fred Diamond Some tick-borne disease stories are almost too painful to tell. But many times, they bring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-798911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Most importantly, they have created Alec\u2019s Place, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that Alec\u2019s life continues to make a difference.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>As Terri writes in Being Misdiagnosed, the Dulude family continues telling this story because another family may recognize themselves in Alec\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n