June 21, 2016.
Matthias Lacoste, who suffers from Lyme disease, has decided to go on hunger strike to raise awareness of the situation of patients with this disease and convince the public authorities to cover his health costs.
No social security allowance
Matthias Lacoste is the father of a family. He has Lyme disease and wants to alert the public authorities to his situation. His sick leave is over, so he no longer receives any compensation from Social Security. However, the symptoms of the disease keep increasing. That’s why he chose to go on a hunger strike to make things happen.
” I have Chronic Lyme disease since many years », He explains. ” Today, our health care system is preventing thousands of sick people, including myself, from taking the road to recovery. Tomorrow, I will no longer be able to feed my family! Faced with such injustice, I decided to stop eating and to suspend all of my treatments. It is high time that the health authorities dealt with this problem, as they should have done 30 years ago, effectively. “
Serious heart, dermatological or neurological problems
For the occasion, he launched a page Facebook to allow Internet users to follow his fight. The daily life of patients with Lyme disease is indeed little known to the general public. However, the symptoms are truly debilitating. ” I have tingling, joint and muscle pain, headaches, I sometimes have a fever », Reports Matthias Lacoste.
And that’s not all, if the disease is not taken care of quickly, it can lead to serious heart, dermatological or neurological problems. It is therefore urgent, according to him, to publicize a disease which today affects thousands of people in France.
” I’m waiting for the minister to give me the right to heal “, He explained. ” It goes through the extension of my allowances to continue to treat me. I am ready to go all the way. Until death “. Will he be heard?
Read also: Lyme disease: millions of patients who ignore each other?
