Education, Advocacy, Resources, & Support

NELAD RF’s mission is to be a vital resource for people struggling with Lyme and its associated diseases by helping them to access effective treatment through education and advocacy, while offering opportunities for financial and emotional support.

NELAD honors the memory of our parents, Pasquale and Esther, who encouraged and believed in us from the very beginning. We operate with a spirit of humility, cooperation, compassion, and hopefulness – just as our parents taught us.

Four Siblings: One Mission 

It’s no secret that there continues to be 

countless obstacles that prevent people from getting 

diagnosed properly and treated effectively.

NELAD: Where Education, Advocacy, Resources, and Support-

All Join Hands to Help…

Our four main goals are:

1) First and foremost, to diminish the suffering of individuals and their loved ones with Lyme and its associated diseases

2) Provide access to proper education, testing and treatment, with opportunities for financial support

3) Work collaboratively with other advocates and organizations 

in order to maximize the 

assistance people and their families need and deserve

4) Support research on Lyme and other vector–borne diseases

We are the DiBara family, seen here, in a portrait we gave to our parents in 1990. In addition to the hairstyles, much has changed since then. We all suffer with Lyme disease and other associated illnesses. Many of our children, spouses, and other family members have also been diagnosed and treated. 

Darlene, the youngest sibling (front), was the first to be diagnosed in 2013, while she struggled to maintain her teaching position in Massachusetts. Before we found a doctor to help her, she had been misdiagnosed by 20+ practitioners-and one even recommended a specialist for her to be evaluated for an ALS diagnosis. After that suggestion, her health and spirit declined rapidly. She truly thought she was going to die, and needed to find someone to care for her sons, who were also ill. Our family was devastated, terrified, and felt powerless. Our story begins with Darlene and 'Lyme,' -but our legacy is this foundation, which also honors the memory of our loving parents, and all they have taught us.

Four of us are co-founders of NELAD Resource Foundation. One of our siblings, our brother, Matthew, after suffering from Dementia/Alzheimer’s, with frontal lobe atrophy- a devastating implication from an undiagnosed vector-borne illness, 

passed in March 2024. 

There is much work to be done . . .