Weeks after a tick bite, he couldn’t speak or move. A slew of tests finally gave him a diagnosis

John Reagan was enjoying the first few months of retirement when he pulled a tick off his skin in early May. He didn’t think much about it. Reagan, 66, a retired pharmacist who lives in Concord, New Hampshire, loved being outdoors, often hunting, fishing or going on long walks with his son and daughter’s dogs – aka “the grand-dogs” – in tow. Reagan fully appreciated the risks of tick bites. Lyme disease is a common infection in the area where he lives. Because it takes about 36 hours for an infected tick to transmit Lyme once it attaches to the skin, he pulled the tiny bloodsucker off almost immediately after returning home and thought he was safe. A few weeks later, though, he started having flu-like symptoms that included a headache, body aches, a fever, nausea and diarrhea.