14-year-old Lyme disease patient develops groundbreaking app to track tick sightings

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - When spring finally gets here the warmer weather's arrival will also kick off tick season.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, as many as 350,000 Americans are diagnosed annually with Lyme disease, an illness spread by ticks.

Olivia Goodreau, a 14-year-old budding scientist, philanthropist and Lyme disease patient is also the developer of a groundbreaking app used to gather data and alert the world to tick sightings.

She started TickTracker App after she contracted Lyme disease on a family vacation in Missouri when she was in the first grade. Olivia went through a battery of tests before being diagnosed with the illness years later. Currently she takes over 80 medications daily and several IV treatments monthly.

This experience prompted her to start the LivLyme Foundation throught which she developed the TickTracker App. She has raised more than $1 million in two years to help the cause.

She is in Washington D.C. to participate in the Census Bureau's TOP Demo Day, an event that showcases innovative tech tools to more than 15 governmental agencies searching for effective ways to solve some of the world's most critical challenges.