On Sunday Christine Miserandino along with thousands of others will Walk for The Cure for Lupus.  For those of you who do not know Christine or have ever heard of The Spoon Theory, she has had Lupus for more than half of her life.  She is married and has a three-year-old daughter, Olivia.  In her own words:

“This past year I was hit hard with Lupus and got so sick that I was in and out of hospitals 3 times, and lost feeling in my legs. I was in a wheelchair. I could not walk. It was very scary. After trying every other option (I have now been on every lupus drug) They were forced to start Cytoxin (chemotherapy) treatments. Once a month, I still do receive these treatments. I am so thankful that with a lot of hard work, and dealing with some nasty side effects from poison medicine I am doing much better and walking and feeling good. I could not have gotten through this ordeal without the support of the Lupus Alliance of Long Island and this is my way of giving back.

I crawled, I used a wheelchair. I hobbled, I used crutches. I had too  much pride, I tried to use a cane… I fell. I went to physical therapy, I got stronger, I cried. The medicine started to work… I walked, I jumped, I danced… and then yes, The Big Question “what are you gonna do now?”  I went with my family to Disney.  By no means am I in remission. I am just very good, compared to very bad. I have bad days, and even bad weeks. I am still doing my chemo treatments. I get very tired. I LOVE my husband, my daughter, our family and I die just a little each time I can’t do what  I want, and can’t take care of them the way I know I could.”

Some of you may know there have been no new drugs for Lupus in fifty years.  THIS YEAR WILL be different as a new Drug called Benlysta should be for use this coming year. It looks very promising. There are other new drugs in trial phases for Lupus too, finally.

What if you don’t have Lupus?  What if you are not even sick?  How does Lupus touch you?

According to the Lupus Foundation of America, every 30 MINUTES someone is diagnosed with Lupus. In the two and a half years that I have been blogging, two bloggers I know have been diagnosed with Lupus, one of them Erin Kotecki Vest or the Queen of Spain.

Approximately 1.5 million men, women and children have Lupus in the United States and 90% of them are WOMEN.  Most women develop Lupus during their childbearing years.

Lupus can be a life-threatening disease that can cause damage to any vital organ of the body, including the heart, kidney, lungs and brain, as well as skin and joints.

So the one favor I ask of you is to donate any amount of money you can, even if it just a dollar, to my friend Christine’s team.  And I would appreciate it if you would mention me as Emily or my site, Mama Sick.  The best gift I could give Christine is to show her that my followers care.

And maybe some day, a normal life will be possible for both of us.

Thank you for reading this, we now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Love,

Emily