Les Roberts: Author, Warrior, Advocate, Friend

Les Roberts – Author, Warrior, Advocate, Friend

“Remember that the battle against Lyme disease is not a sprint. It is a marathon.” ~ Les Roberts

Today I mourn the loss of a great friend, Les Roberts. Some of you may know him as the author of The Poison Plum. He was a twenty-year victim of chronic Lyme Disease and a cancer patient since 2009. He best described his book as an “expository mystery/suspense/thriller novel” a work of fiction but, yet, intertwined with fact.

He was perhaps chronic Lyme Patients’ biggest supporter and advocate. He had huge dreams to help their cries and pleas to be heard. He wanted so much for others to see what they go through and wanted to be on talk shows such as Oprah to share his story and others like him.

“It is my prayer that I will live to see The Poison Plum made into a major motion picture, taking our message to millions.” ~ Les Roberts

I remember when I wrote, Your Heartbreaks are Their Heartbreaks, and he was one of a handful that I sought for advice on comparing chronic Lyme Disease and Cancer, in hopes of not offending those that were battling Cancer.

“Based on my quite extensive personal experiences with both diseases, I have come to the following conclusions: Lyme disease and Cancer are both very individualistic diseases. In other words, one size doesn’t fit all. Because each of us are different in our genetic makeup, our response to the diseases and our responses to treatments can vary quite significantly from one person to the next. Just because one person or group of persons responded favorably to a particular antibiotic regimen or chemotherapy regimen doesn’t assure that you will have the same success.” ~ Les Roberts

“Rely on the three G’s to get you through… first and foremost, God for direction, guidance and wisdom…Google for the necessary research…Guts to get you through the tough times.” ~ Les Roberts

Despite his battle with Cancer, he was always upbeat and kept his sense of humor. I couldn’t help but laugh as his description: “The triple “C’s” of Christmas, Cancer and Chemotherapy have kept me fully occupied.” It was just unbelievable on how he was one of the strongest and happiest individuals I knew even with all that was going on within his life. Even when he was at his darkest moments, he still was kind and gracious. He never ceased to amaze me.

“Thank you all for your prayers and kind words of encouragement. Your support has been very important to me as I have struggled through many months of frustration, pain and uncertainty. It has been a rough ride indeed.”

Just recently, when I was working on Courage Doesn’t Always Roar, even with the news that it would only be a matter of months he never lost his faith:

“They may be correct but I turned all of this over to God a long time ago and in a few minutes, I am going for a two-mile run. Never give up Lydia! It’s not over until it’s over!”

Les Roberts will truly be missed. A great Lyme Warrior, advocate, and friend.

Read His Obituary
You may even want to leave a message in his guestbook.