On June 14th, 2011, 42-year-old Ellie Lobel stepped unsteadily outside of her house in Weimar, California. Her frail form leaned heavily on her round-the-clock caretaker for support. Ellie, a mother of three, had relocated to this quiet rural part of California for one simple reason: to find peace in her final days. For 15 long years, she had been engaged in a relentless battle with Lyme disease, a chronic and debilitating condition transmitted by ticks. Now, after enduring years of suffering, Ellie had reached a point where she could barely stand or think clearly. Hopelessness had become her constant companion.
In her quest for a peaceful end, Ellie had hired an end-of-life coordinator to assist with her death plans, ensuring that nobody attempted to revive or resuscitate her if she fell unconscious. Ellie believed her final moments were imminent and wanted them to occur peacefully in her California bed. However, the unpredictability of life would soon take her down an unexpected path.
Dying, as Ellie would soon discover, is often more complicated than we can imagine. After three days of lying in her bed, expecting death, Ellie’s health showed no signs of further deterioration. She made a life-altering decision on June 14th, deciding to leave her bed and venture outside with the help of her caretaker. Each step was an excruciating effort, and she clung to her caretaker’s arm for support. The sun shone brightly in the azure sky, and flowers adorned the landscape, offering a glimpse of nature’s beauty. In that brief moment, Ellie experienced a sensation she hadn’t felt in years: gratitude for being alive.
This fleeting moment of gratitude, however, was quickly interrupted. As Ellie stood on the sunny sidewalk in California, she suddenly felt a sharp, small object hit her forehead. Looking up, she realized it was a bee. Ellie was determined not to let an insect ruin this rare instance of happiness in her life. She tried to swat it away, but more bees arrived, forming a menacing swarm overhead. Her caretaker, witnessing the approaching swarm, screamed, let go of Ellie, and fled.
With no one to support her, Ellie was forced to fall to the ground and shield her head with her hands as the bees attacked her. They stung her head, ears, and face relentlessly. These weren’t ordinary bees; they were African killer bees, known for their multiple stings. Ellie, fiercely allergic to bee stings, was now facing a painful and public death on the sidewalk, all alone.
Ellie’s life had begun with immense promise. By the age of 18, she had earned a PhD in physics, and at 27, she and her husband were raising three beautiful children in their dream home in New York’s Westchester County. Life seemed perfect. In 1996, she noticed a rash on her thigh, which she dismissed as a spider bite. Little did she know that this rash was a calling card for the ticks carrying Lyme disease, a disease she had unknowingly contracted. As the years passed, her symptoms worsened, forcing her to give up her career and limiting her ability to be a mother. Eventually, her marriage fell apart, and Lyme disease wreaked havoc on her life.
Ellie’s disease had reached its 15th year, and she had decided to take control of her fate by moving to California to pass away on her terms. However, she had never envisioned her end as a brutal, agonizing death caused by a swarm of African killer bees on a random California sidewalk.
The attack seemed to last an eternity, but in reality, it was only about a minute. The pain was unimaginable. After the bees departed, Ellie’s caretaker returned, picked her up, and carried her back to the car. Ellie realized that her caretaker was probably taking her to the hospital, but that wasn’t what she wanted. Despite the brief moment of happiness she had experienced before the bee stings, deep down, Ellie still wished to embrace death.
Back at home, Ellie lay in her bed, expecting her life to slip away. Three days passed, and Ellie was still alive. Incredibly, she felt better than she had in years. There was no allergic reaction to the bee stings, and her chronic Lyme disease symptoms had vanished.
Ellie began researching bee stings and Lyme disease, stumbling upon a 1997 study from Australia that revealed the active ingredient in some wasp and bee stings was potent enough to kill the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease. However, due to ethical constraints, this avenue of treatment had never been explored. In Ellie’s case, the attack of the bees unintentionally triggered her recovery.
Since that fateful day, Ellie Lobel has become a leading advocate for bee venom as a treatment for Lyme disease. Her life, once marred by suffering and despair, has taken a miraculous turn, offering hope to those afflicted with the same condition. Ellie’s story is a testament to the unpredictable nature of life and the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit.