Avril Lavigne makes emotional return after Lyme Disease battle
It's been a year since Avril Lavigne's struggle with Lyme Disease forced her to bow out of the spotlight, but the singer returned to the stage last night for a very special performance at the Los Angeles Special Olympics World Games opening ceremony.
Performing her song Fly, an inspiring anthem she wrote especially for the Games, Avril looked healthy and happy as she sang at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Taking to Instagram after her performance, Avril seemed overwhelmed with how the night had gone.
"This was a very beautiful night for me… It has been a difficult year fighting through Lyme Disease for me and I am so happy to have made it on stage tonight for the first performance in a year," she wrote.
"Thank you for having me and please enjoy my song Fly. I wrote this song to encourage people who are facing challenges, to encourage strength and to empower."
Lyme Disease, an infectious illness caused by a tick bite, is often mistaken for other sicknesses, as happened in Avril's case. Speaking on Good Morning America last month, Avril revealed that for weeks doctors tried to convince her there was nothing wrong.
"They would pull up their computer and be like, 'Chronic fatigue syndrome.' Or, 'Why don’t you try to get out of bed, Avril, and just go play the piano?' It’s like, 'Are you depressed?' This went on and on for a month," she explained.
With a suspicion that her symptoms matched up with Lyme Disease, the Complicated singer finally got a diagnosis, and almost a year on she is getting stronger by the day, but it has been a difficult journey. "I felt like I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t talk and I couldn’t move. I thought I was dying … There were definitely times I couldn’t shower for a full week because I could barely stand," she said of her illness earlier this year.
We delighted to see her back in good health again.
