My name is Edward Crawford. I am the writer, director, and actor for the award-winning feature film ‘60 Miles North.’ I grew up in the Hudson Valley, sixty miles north of New York City, a hotbed for Lyme Disease as my hometown is set on the banks of the Hudson River.
I was diagnosed by a traditional infectious disease doctor in Poughkeepsie New York. He ran some tests and told me I had a few bands for Lyme disease. I could not believe it. I was a high school athlete only three years removed, spry, and extremely physically active. I thought there was no way I could have Lyme disease! I didn’t understand then the severity of this illness could become if left untreated. I thought because I was a young man that could withstand anything that came my way I’d beat it on my own, but I was so wrong. Having a fear of doctors my whole life, I started to lie to myself and was in denial and ignored my symptoms. Until I just couldn’t anymore.
It was then that I returned to the doctor who diagnosed me only for him to tell me that the infection had reached my central nervous system and he did not deal with chronic Lyme disease. I made an appointment with a Lyme-literate medical doctor and immediately had a port into my chest and began intravenous antibiotics. One month later my insurance denied coverage. My family wound up spending thirty thousand dollars on Drs. Appointments, antibiotic treatments, hyperbaric oxygen treatments, and hundreds of supplements in hopes of finding a cure that worked for me. Embarrassingly enough I have even tried some very strange and obscure treatments in hopes of finding relief, because as any Lyme patient knows when you are desperate to regain your health you will try just about anything.
One month later my insurance denied coverage.
After two years of treating CLD, running out of money, and my doctor’s opinion plus the opinion of three other professionals I thought this quality of life was the best I was going to have. This disease left me with three souvenirs to live with; vagal syncope, Pots, and hypothyroidism. I continued living my life taking herbs for years. I even accomplished a few great things despite my illness: being the first host of the game show ‘Cash Cab,’ becoming a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and landing acting roles in movies and television. But deep down I always knew I could get completely better and would continue to try new treatments as they became available.
I tried disulfiram, dapsone, and Rife therapy. My doctors believed that I had knocked the Lyme out for good, but I still wasn’t better. During my treatments I experienced a case of agoraphobia, and episodes of vagal syncope (which is passing out in public… In the Subway in NYC no less where I was living). It was then I knew I needed to share my story with others so I made the movie ‘60 Miles North.’
60 Miles North is a dark comedy that is also an autobiographical film, centering around the challenge of pursuing art as a vocation in a blue collar community, overcoming societal constructs surrounding class, and escaping the trappings of a depressed urban city in hopes of fulfilling a life-long dream that goes against the grain of one’s community. It also speaks to the paralyzing effects of chronic illness as it impacts one’s ability to pursue their dreams in spite of their physical limitations. It is a beginning attempt to insert the reality of Lyme disease into the American consciousness through storytelling.
Medical documentaries can be flattening, overwhelming, scary even – but my film is the opposite. It shows what it looks like to cope with this disease, what it looks like to be understood, and what happens when the storyteller puts this content in an existential comedy about being a scrappy NY survivor who believes in positive outcomes. I battle with chronic Lyme disease and continue to do so. Writing ’60 Miles North’ was a vehicle to share my experience as a Lyme patient and a way to deal with the implications of living with this illness.
