My name is Matthew Benjamin Murray and I have started this website in honor of my mother or as I call her, momma. My momma, Eileen Murray, has suffered and struggled with Lyme Disease for years.
 
In the spring of 2000, my world began to change, Momma became ill or let’s just say not herself. For a while I pretended it was no big deal, everyone goes through hard times, but I would be proven wrong.  As my Momma went in for back surgery, memories came streaming back from my little sister Sarah’s incredible fight with back surgery (snowboarding accident) and how I had missed a lot of it due to being at university. It was a tough time for us.
 
Soon after the surgery things did not get better for my Momma, and after some divine guidance, my parents went across country to find out what was really wrong.  The long of the short, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, as well as poisoning from metal and mercury. To say I was beside myself would be an understatement, my Momma was one of the strongest people I knew – I mean her Grandmother (my great grandmother) lived to 107 – straight off the boat from what was then Czech.
 
How could this be?
Now my Momma is not the same, no more keeping up her elaborate gardens around our property in New England or cooking meals a gourmet chef in Paris would envy. I try to explain to people close to me that are meeting her for the first time how fantastic she used to be, which only makes me even more sad.
 
Who wants to talk about a living person, never mind their mother in the past tense?
Most recently my personal life has taken a big u-turn, and although I could easily say that’s the way life is I have decided to take my life on this earth more seriously. Starting with a new found focus on my health and conditioning because even now more then ever I need to; I have realized I am still completely capable of many things physically, just not a 90 mph two seam fastball.
 
You see after I decided not to pursue my baseball and tennis careers, and instead chose to party and make excuses for exercise, my own health began to wane. Realizing it was time to man up, literally, I decided to take up running. Don’t ask me why, I am terrible, more of a sprinter my whole life – you know the type that would turn a double into a triple without even looking up to check the leftfielder, just challenging his arm from the warning track.
 
Anyway, I'm about to conquer my new goal that I have been training for so long – to run the NYC Marathon and support my Momma, while shining a light on other areas I care deeply about. On this website you will learn about my Momma and her fight with Lyme disease, as well as several people close to me that have inspired and supported me in this new challenge.
 
So, I ask that you please support me and the countless others asking for donations in the fight against Lyme disease.