Fight the Good Fight

Today is May 10, 2011…..World Lupus Day.  I do what I can to spread awareness on a regular basis, but today it is even more important for me to do so.  There are so many of us out there who suffer from this horrid disease, yet most people don’t even know what it is.  Let me introduce you to Lupus.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease for which there is no cure.  It is estimated that between 1.5 and 2 million people in the US alone have this disease and over 5 million world wide.  Lupus is a condition in which your body attacks itself.  Our bodies create what is called anitbodies that fight against disease and foreign bacteria, but someone with Lupus creates many more anitbodies than needed and it causes them to attack good tissue as well.  This good tissue can be in any part of the body.  The most common are the skin, joints and muscles, while some like myself, have them attack organs as well.  It can be known to destroy the kidneys (which I’m fortunate to not have happening to me), the heart, lungs and brain.  I do have the heart and lung complications and it is thought that my time here is very limited due to the organ involvement.  While I try my best to remain upbeat and positive about life in general, I must admit that there are times when it can really get me down….both physically AND emotionally.  I don’t know how anyone with a chronic illness such as this can do anything but.  One thing I do know to be true about myself however, is that regardless of how many ‘bad’ days I have and how bad they can be, I will never….and I repeat NEVER…. give up without a fight!  Life and those I love are far too precious to me. 

I’m sure without even realizing it, you know someone who is effected by this debilitating and often fatal disease.  Please join me in spreading awareness by educating yourselves and others on the topic so that the word will get out and researchers will have no choice but to pay attention to our cries and work as diligently to finding a cure as they do for other diseases such as Cancer, MS and Aids, just to name a few.  With your help I am confident that although it probably won’t be in my lifetime, we WILL find a cure and end the suffering of so many people around the world.

As always, I keep you all in my prayers and hope you do the same for me.  Life is what you make it, and I choose to make mine one in which, when I’ve gone to meet my maker, people can say that I lived it to the fullest and loved with all I had.  I will continue to fight the good fight for the remainder of my days.

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