Gigi Hadid Reveals How Lyme Disease Struck Her Family

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Young model Gigi Hadid became emotional when she talked about her family's battle against Lyme disease.

Gigi Hadid was a guest in the Masterchef Celebrity Showdown against another model Devon Windsor. The episode was dedicated a charity that is close to Gigi's heart, the Global Lyme Alliance for Lyme Disease, Entertainment Tonight reported.

Gigi got emotional talking about the disease that her mother Yolanda Foster was diagnosed with back in 2012. The model spoke of the dangers of being bitten by an insect and how the $25,000 cash prize from Masterchef can definitely help with finding a cure.

"My mom, sister and brother are all affected by lyme disease," Gigi said to judges Christina Tosi and Gordon Ramsay.

Last year, Yolanda revealed that her two kids Bella and Anwar were also affected by the Lyme disease after accepting an award at the Global Lyme Alliance Gala that took place in New York City. Gigi previously spoke about the challenge that she is facing being the only one in the family who doesn't have the disease. She said that the process has been hard for her because she is the only one who doesn't understand it.

"What's been hardest for me is just trying to find a way to be their hope and kind of be a strength for them even with the disease that I can't understand fully because I haven't been through it," the model said.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted by a bite of an infected blacklegged tick. Symptoms of the disease include headache, fever, fatigue and skin rash called erythema migrans. The infection can spread to the joints, nervous system and heart if it is left untreated. With early diagnosis of the disease, most Lyme cases can be treated with a few weeks of antibiotics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated.

More serious symptoms of the disease take longer to show and usually develop after several weeks and for others, years. People with severe cases of Lyme can show meningitis, inflammatory arthritis, paralysis of the facial muscles, difficulty in concentrating and memory issues.

According to Science Mag website, the Lyme carrying ticks are now in half of all the United States counties. These blacklegged ticks are now in 45.7% of the U.S. counties and are found in 37 states across the eastern part of the country. The Lyme disease affects approximately 300,000 American each year.