Genevieve Gorderis getting candid about herLyme Disease.
TheTrading Spacesalum, whose new showBest Room Winspremieres on Bravo May 1, opened up toPEOPLE Nowabout her battle with the disease over the past ten years.
“When I first got Lyme, there weren’t a lot of people to talk to,” she says. “You’re just looking through the web and everything says you’re doing to die. Like I have a cold and I’m going to die on the web.”
But since going public with her health struggle, she’s found the best way to conquer it is to share her experience.
“Auto immune diseases are something that millions and millions and millions of people have that don’t really talk about it,” Gorder says. “But it’s important to have community for anything that feels difficult or hard to solve, whether it’s design or an autoimmune disease.”
“When we have a community is when we fix things,” she continues. “That’s when things start to get easier.”
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She recently decided she wanted to be an advocate for those living with the disease, and event partnered with pest control company Terminix on a new Tick Defend System to help guard homes against seven common tick species in America. During the month of May, which is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, Terminix will donate 10 percent of proceeds from the service to theGlobal Lyme Alliance.
“For some people, Lyme is easily treated but for others thisdisease is devastating,” says Linda Giampa, executive director of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. TheCDChas also documented cases in which Lyme has been fatal. (Find more information on diagnosinglyme disease and its symptoms here.)
Gorder, who says her Lyme has thankfully been dormant for years, has also dedicated herself to being open about her own symptoms and diagnosis with her fans.
“I want to be a resource that feels like, ‘Hey, I’ll get honest information,'” she says. “It’s what I’m doing and how I’m dealing with it. It’s not necessarily what works for everyone else because we’re all a different bevy of ingredients.”
“I live in Manhattan and I have Lyme,” she explains.
Gorder is currently gearing up for the premiere of her show,Best Room Wins,which she previously compared toProject Runway, but instead of a fashionable outfit, the competitors will be designing an entire room on a budget.
WATCH THIS: Genevieve Gorder HostsBest Room Winson Bravo, Premiering May 1
Much likeProject Runway, Gorder’s new show will involve an impressive lineup of rotating guest judges, including Jonathan Adler,Million Dollar Decoratorsalum Kathryn M. Ireland,Kardashian design guruMartyn Lawrence Bullard, originalQueer Eyecast memberThom Filicia,Kaley Cuoco’s decorator Jeff Andrews, Jamie Bush, Molly Sims, Jason Wu and India Hicks.
The competing designers will have $25,000 to transform one room — a huge sum compared toTrading Spaces’current $2,000 budget. (During the original run of the TLC show, designers only had $1,000.)
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“It was not my decision at all,”Gorder told PEOPLE exclusivelyin February. “I had a previous series already scheduled for the same time that we were going to shootTrading Spaces.So the only thing that happened was just a schedule conflict.”
Gorder also said at some point she hopes to return to the show, telling PEOPLE: “I always want to doTrading Spacesuntil the day I die.”
Best Room Winspremieres Wednesday, May 1 at 10PM ET/PT on Bravo.
source: people.com
