Law & Order: SVU’s Chris Meloni Takes to Capitol Hill to Fight for Lyme Disease

A cause that hits close to home. Left searching for answers after a loved one was infected with Lyme Disease, Chris Meloni began a lifelong quest to spread awareness in combating this often forgotten yet debilitating disease.

“Lyme Disease has changed mine and my family’s whole lives,” the Law & Order: Organized Crime star, 63, tells In Touch. “It made us focus on staying healthy and we all felt a call to spread the word on this sinister disease.”

Now an ambassador to Global Lyme Alliance, the leading nonprofit dedicated to conquering Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, the father of two is speaking out on Capitol Hill to advocate for increased funding for treatments and diagnostics. Revealing that “compared to West Nile virus or Malaria, [Lyme Disease] gets 1 percent of the funding that those types of diseases get,” he believes the fight for global support and funding is more crucial than ever.

“Going to Capitol Hill, I felt as if I was getting some kind of traction in spreading the message,” the actor admits. “It was nice to be heard by the highest echelon of power, but it’s all baby steps. We just hope to get action taken against the disease and to spread awareness.”

According to the CDC, there are more than 500,000 new cases of Lyme Disease each year in the U.S., but the key is early detection. With proper medication, patients can fully recover and continue to live their normal lives but if left untreated Lyme Disease can develop into a chronic illness.

Symptoms include joint pain, muscle spasms, migraines, fatigue, brain fog, and depression. “Very few people understand Lyme Disease and its potential long-term ramifications that will severely impact them for the rest of their life,” Meloni tells In Touch.

But tonight, the actor will take the stage as keynote speaker at the Global Lyme Alliance’s Annual Gala in NYC. The organization’s mission is plain and simple: “cure Lyme and other tick-borne diseases through innovative research, awareness, and empowering the patient voice” as stated on their website.

Meloni’s final words? “The main message I hope to spread is sharing just how destructive Lyme Disease can be,” he says. “I want to educate the public as well as the powers-who-be that hold the purse strings so that we can get the funding we need.”