Meet the Editors
The series Ixodia is the work of Gene de Paule, a Lyme survivor, and Zo Viya, his partner and caregiver, both professionals in the editorial field.
We hope that the holistic picture drawn by the series offers patients and their loved ones, as well as the general public, a broader understanding of the tick-borne illness epidemic — one that may evoke compassion, enhance healing, and lead to greater awareness about prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment options.
Zo Vija
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Zo Viya grew up in rural New Hampshire. She received a BA in English literature from Bard College and has copyedited over a hundred books for The History Press on local history and folklore. In 2021, Zo created an editorial business, VocariumSM Author Services, offering a full array of editorial services to fine art galleries, filmmakers, memoirists, magazines, and premier higher-educational institutions.
When her partner was diagnosed in 2020, Zo delved with him into the “Lyme world,” discovering an unsuspected labyrinth of controversies, enigmas, and stigmatization. As they delved into this labyrinth, they decided to share their learning by editing the stories they wish they could’ve read before they found themselves lost in it: Ixodia: The Lyme Chronicles.
Gene de Paule
For over 20 years, Gene de Paule has worked in various creative fields, including music and film production and nonfiction writing and editing. He studied music and vocal techniques and is fluent in three languages. Since 2022, he has collaborated remotely with Zo Viya on VocariumSM Author Services’ editorial projects. Gene is also a Lyme disease survivor.
After visiting the East Coast of the U.S. in the summer of 2019, Gene experienced a monthslong cascade of debilitating ailments: myalgia, dermatitis, arthralgia, and finally, pericarditis and cognitive impairment. A year later, serological and PCR tests confirmed his dreaded diagnostic: Lyme disease with neurological involvement, or “neuroborreliosis.”
Despite many symptoms gradually fading during the year-long antibiotic therapy he went through in Mexico, other symptoms continued to progress: his thinking and speech slowed down and his hypersensitivity to sound, sleeplessness, anxiety, and an uncontrollable temper grew darker. He looked to the Jemsek Specialty Clinic, in Washington, D.C., for more specialized treatment and found in Jemsek’s unorthodox methods the light he’d been hoping for.
After two more years in treatment, Gene’s first thought when getting back to work was: “We must write about all this, raise awareness, join forces with others in this fight, and do all we can to make sure that not one more person suffers from these awful tick-borne diseases.”