DENVER, Co- When you think about summer, especially here in the Ozarks, it’s hard not to think about… ticks.

While usually harmless, some ticks are hosts for illnesses such as Lyme disease. 

A young girl from Colorado believes she contracted the disease on a trip to Missouri, so she designed an app to help stay safe for the summer.

“I just didn’t want to sit around and do nothing,” says 13-year-old Olivia Gooddrow, creator of TickTracker.

TickTracker is a way to report and track tick sightings and bitings. For her, the app is a high tech weapon in a very personal fight against Lyme disease.

“I was losing my vision, my face was turning really pale and sometimes I would feel like I had the flu,” says Olivia.

Olivia thinks she got bit by a tick in Missouri in 2013. After seeing 51 doctors she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. 
           
She was on many medications back then, now…
              
“I take 86 pills a day.”

“still?”

“yes”

“will this be for life?”

“until they find a cure or until my Lyme disease goes into remission”

TickTracker is a free app, it opens to a map and green dots on the map are where tick sightings have occurred. 
 
The app includes all of the U.S. and pictures of ticks, so you can identify if it is a tick. There are also tips on how to safely remove a tick. 

Olivia hopes TickTracker gets people talking about Lyme disease and helps researchers find a cure.