KERRY J HECKMAN, LICSW
  • About
  • Blog
  • Therapy & Groups
  • Writing
  • Freelance
  • Speaking
  • Resources
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer

What the Green Heart Emoji Means to Me as Someone with Lyme Disease

10/10/2017

0 Comments

 
This article was first published on The Mighty on October 9th, 2017. Most of the links on this post are informational, but a few are affiliate links to help maintain this website.

Recently, I received a reply on Twitter to an article I'd written about living with Lyme disease. It said, "So true. So powerful. Thank you for writing this (green heart emoji)." Right away I knew this reply was from a fellow Lyme patient. The green heart emoji might not mean anything to most people, but for the Lyme disease community it’s like our secret handshake.

Not surprisingly, the Lyme community chose lime green as our awareness color. It's a cute play on a homonym. We use limes to represent many things. For example, one of our biggest fundraisers, The Lyme Disease Challenge, is to take a bite out of a lime and post a picture or video on social media. Currently, there is no lime emoji, so instead we use the green heart, which on some operating systems appears lime green. Other groups of people use the green heart emoji, but in our corner of the internet we have claimed it as our own.

Many of us put a green heart in our social media profiles to symbolize our Lyme warrior status and when we write messages to one another many of us put a green heart at the end of the message to show we understand. Even large Lyme non-profit organizations, like the Global Lyme Alliance, use the green heart in their tweets and other social media posts. This practice has spread far and wide throughout the Lyme community.

My Lyme story echoes most Lyme stories. From the time I first started seeking medical treatment for my strange symptoms, 10 years passed before I got a diagnosis. When I was finally diagnosed with Lyme, I went from being isolated to having a huge community of other people like me.
​
Chronic Lyme disease is often denied by the mainstream medical community. They refer to it as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome and say there is no treatment. Most of us with chronic Lyme disease were not willing to accept that fate, and have created online and community support groups to help locate knowledgeable doctors and compare symptoms and treatments. I often turn to the online support group in Illinois when a new symptom arises. Usually someone else has experienced the same symptom and can point me in the right direction. The online community is also wonderful for those really bad days when I just need to vent or have a cyber-shoulder to cry on.
What the Green Heart Emoji Means to Me as Someone with Lyme Disease

When I first started my blog and social media accounts I didn't know about the green heart, but slowly I noticed that after each tweet or direct message there was that heart. Soon, I started to use it, too, and I liked how it added something to the message, like a winky face, but just for Lyme. Eventually, I added it to my Twitter and Instagram profiles and when people came upon my profile they already knew a little bit about me and the type of symptoms I was dealing with.

The green heart emoji is a little symbol of what we all face together and a small act of solidarity and love. Lyme patients, let's keep spreading the love across the internet, one green heart at a time.

"No beauty shines brighter than that of a good heart." - Unknown
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome

    I'm Kerry (She/Her/Hers) and I am a licensed therapist, group facilitator, poet, writer, & speaker. This is a place to acknowledge and validate our suffering and trauma, while also learning how to turn toward aliveness and spaciousness. 

    Kerry J Heckman

    Categories

    All
    Book Reviews
    Guest Posts
    Publications
    Rewrites
    Tuning In

    Archives

    February 2025
    January 2025
    September 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016

    RSS Feed

      SIGN UP BY EMAIL

    Subscribe
Copyright © 2025 Kerry J Heckman All rights reserved. Disclaimer.

    Sign up For Newsletter

Subscribe
  • About
  • Blog
  • Therapy & Groups
  • Writing
  • Freelance
  • Speaking
  • Resources
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer