Birding is the best medicine for Ancaster author with Lyme disease

When Bob Bell goes birding, something remarkable happens - his pain goes away.

The Ancaster resident becomes so engrossed in nature that he forgets about his chronic Lyme disease.

When his symptoms were at their worst, Bell used a cane and couldn't walk more than a couple hundred yards."

Now I go birding and I can walk eight, 10 kilometres a day," he said.

I'm not trying to say birding is a cure. It's a coping mechanism."

Bell talked about the mental and physical benefits of birding while sitting in his backyard facing the Dundas Valley Conservation Area on Monday. He was scanning the skies for a rare black vulture that had been spotted that morning in Toronto's High Park and was thought to be winging its way west.

Birding saved me," Bell said.

Every morning, it's not a question of what am I going to do, it's where am I going to go today? Which trail do I want to walk? And off I go. It's given me a real spark and purpose in life."

Bell is unsure how he contracted Lyme. His work as an exploration geologist took him around the world, and in the fall of 2013 he was bitten by several unknown insects while in southern Africa.

Shortly after getting home to Canada, he walked through tall grass where he may have unwittingly encountered a Lyme-carrying tick.

His symptoms started shortly thereafter, with a high fever and body shakes.

He felt better after a few days and forgot all about it." But about a month later he was hit with a whole cascade of weird symptoms" that included awful" muscle pain, crepitus affecting his joints and profound fatigue.

Clearly something really drastic was coming on," said Bell, who was in his late 50s at the time.

Bell said his doctors were skeptical he had Lyme disease. They ruled out other conditions with similar symptoms but had no interest in trying to understand why I had what I had."

He finally went to the United States, where he was diagnosed with Lyme, put on huge doses" of antibiotics and was told to avoid sugar, starches and other foods that could interfere with the medication.

Bell said he developed severe societal anxiety that made crowds and noise impossible to handle, and his cognitive abilities were hampered to the point that he sometimes had trouble counting out change to buy a newspaper.

He knew his days as a high-flying mining executive were numbered.

It was really frustrating. I was doing a job I absolutely loved - being paid to be on a treasure hunt," said Bell, who went on sick leave before retiring in late 2015.

He spent the first winter of his forced retirement looking out the window at the feathered visitors who frequented his bird feeders.

I love watching birds live their lives. They work so hard and they're so industrious," Bell said.

The more you learn, you just can't help but be impressed with birds and in love with them."

As an unexpected bonus, he added, While I was so focused on thinking about birds, my mind was off my aches and pains."

He joined the Hamilton Naturalists' Club and went on a birding field trip the following spring. From then on, Bell said, I was just hooked."

He branched into bird photography, participated in citizen science efforts like Project FeederWatch and began to give talks on birding, speaking to hundreds of people on Zoom during the pandemic as part of a push to have Nature Canada designate Hamilton a bird-friendly city.

If I'd been interested in birding when I was working, I would've been fired because I would've been so distracted," Bell said with a laugh.

Along with exploring his bird-rich home turf, Bell makes the pilgrimage" to Long Point in Norfolk County several times a year, especially during spring and fall migrations where tens of thousands of birds pass overhead.

He is especially grateful for the fellow birders who took him under their wing.

I didn't think at my age I would make brand-new friends," he said.

Bell tells his story in a new book, Out of the Lyme Light and Into the Sunlight: Birding as Therapy for the Chronically Ill," due to be published on Nov. 15 by Hancock House.

The first-time author hopes his story will inspire readers with a chronic illness to seek out their own joy.

I wrote from the heart," Bell said. My goal is to share my passion and give them hope."

J.P. Antonacci's reporting on Haldimand and Norfolk is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. jpantonacci@thespec.com