Celebrating Love and Overcoming Lyme

Erica Stamey-Hong and her husband, Shae Hong, CEO of Bella, had two big reasons to host a party last Saturday (July 23) at their Southampton home. The event marked the couple's tenth wedding anniversary and celebrated the recovery of Shae Hong from a challenging battle with Lyme disease.

"This event was important to us not because we want to mark a monumental milestone in our marriage," Stamey-Hong told the couple's guests, "but because we feel so thankful to be beyond Shae's disease and back in a place where we can celebrate the future." 

The party was also designed to honor the work of Global Lyme Alliance (GLA), the leading private nonprofit dedicated to conquering Lyme and tick-borne diseases through research and education. Stamey-Hong took a few moments to speak of her commitment to get involved with GLA and encouraged her guests to do so, too. Guests then listened intently as Scott Santarella, GLA's CEO, talked about the risks of Lyme disease, a huge and growing health problem not only on the East End, but in all 50 states and more than 80 countries.

"We are honored and grateful that Erica and Shae included us in their milestone celebration of 10 years married and Shae's recovery," said Santarella. "We appreciate their support and willingness to help us raise awareness around this disease and GLA as the "go-to" resource for lyme research and education." 

Among some 100 guests were Chris Burch, CEO of Burch Creative Capital; Rachel Cohen and Andres Modak, co-founders and co-CEOs of Snowe, a direct-to-consumer home goods brand; Jon Howard, CEO of Irving Place Capital, and Kristen Taekman, former cast member of "The Real Housewives of New York City." 

They dined on delicious food catered by Cowfish and danced to music deejayed by "DJ Price" from Surf Lodge in Montauk. "At one point everybody was dancing," said Stamey-Hong. "It was a wonderful, joyous event." 

An online donation page to honor Erica and Shae Hong's tenth anniversary has been set up on GLA's website: http://weblink.donorperfect.com/Hong   Tax-deductible donations will fund research and education programs to advance the prevention, prompt diagnosis and effective treatment of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.