# Hunger Strike **Verse 1** I’ve been seeking help, I’ve been seeking support, For Chronic Lyme Disease, I’ve been fighting for care\. I’ve asked for some answers, some recognition too, But the healthcare system keeps failing me and you\. I’ve written to the province, I’ve written Ottawa, I’ve asked for some answers, I’ve asked for some change Some pretended to listen, some looked away, While Chronic Lyme Disease keeps taking lives away\. **Chorus** This is my hunger strike, For Chronic Lyme Disease, For the sick and the forgotten, Who are begging for relief\. I’m doing this for people Who’ve been fighting for a cause\. If you won’t hear our voices, Then maybe you’ll hear this cry: Chronic Lyme Disease is real And we refuse to quietly die\. **Verse 2** I’ve lived with Chronic Lyme Disease for years, With pain and exhaustion and unanswered fears\. I had to leave Canada looking for care, Searching for doctors who would listen somewhere\. And I know I’m not the only Canadian soul Who’s travelled for answers while losing control\. We’ve asked for recognition, we’ve asked for a way, But promises keep getting pushed to another day\. **Chorus** This is my hunger strike, For Chronic Lyme Disease, For the sick and the forgotten, Who are begging for relief\. We’re not asking for pity, We’re asking to be heard, We’re asking for better answers, Not another empty word\. If you won’t hear our voices, Then maybe you’ll hear this cry: Chronic Lyme Disease is real And we refuse to quietly die\. **Verse 3** They call it evidence\-based medicine, And evidence matters, that much I agree\. But what happens when the evidence is disputed, And the patient in front of you still cannot live? What happens when the test comes back negative, But the person still suffers every day? Do you tell them that their illness isn’t real, Or do you keep searching for a better way? **Bridge** Chronic Lyme Disease— Say the words out loud\. Chronic Lyme Disease— We are still here, still proud\. We’re patients, we’re families, We’re people, not statistics\. Don’t reduce our suffering To numbers on a diagnostic\. **Verse 4** Advocates have knocked on the doors for years, Carrying their stories, their anger and tears\. There have been promises that change would arrive, But promises don’t give you your life back alive\. A week ago I told them, “I’m done waiting anymore\. If nobody answers, I’ll make my hunger heard\.” Not with a weapon, Not with a fist, But with the only thing I have left— A hunger they cannot dismiss\. **Final Chorus** This is my hunger strike, For Chronic Lyme Disease, For every sick and suffering soul Who’s begging for relief\. I’m not asking for pity, I’m asking for a chance— A chance to be heard, A chance to advance\. A chance for better research, A chance for better care, A chance for someone in power To finally stop and hear\. **Outro** I don’t want to die for this, I want to live and see the day When Chronic Lyme Disease patients Don’t have to leave Canada for care\. I don’t want another patient To feel forgotten and alone\. I want a healthcare system That listens when we call Chronic Lyme Disease— Remember the name\. Chronic Lyme Disease— We’re tired of the blame\. We’re not asking for pity, We’re asking you to try\. We want to live with dignity— And we refuse to disappear quietly\.
