Thank you for visiting my fundraising page!

I'm not quite sure how many years I've been fundraising and walking for the Lupus Alliance, but it's been several.  This experience is always meaningful to me, as it's the only time I allow myself to be "in people's faces", so to speak, about the disease and my own experience with it.  The rest of the year, I'm quite willing to talk about lupus if the topic comes up, and I'm always willing to answer questions, but I never want anyone to feel I'm shoving lupus in their faces, or that I'm defining myself by this disease.

Truth is, lupus now DOES define much of my life, as much as I hate to admit it.  Lupus is such an insidious and individual disease - it looks different on everyone who has it.  For some people, and God bless them, they may have some extra tiredness and maybe some joint pain, but they're otherwise able to carry on with their lives.  Last year, I told you about my friend, Donna, who is, unfortunately, one of the sickest people I know suffering with this awful disease.  I used to think of myself as someone who fell kind of in-between:  lupus had affected my ability to work, for sure, and I was on lots of meds and mostly extremely tired and in a good bit of pain.  But, even though I never seemed to be stable in my illness' course, I guess I felt as though I was pretty lucky.  In MANY, many ways, I still am INCREDIBLY lucky!

I have wonderfully supportive parents who help as much as they're able and who provide more emotional support than they realize; I have some amazing friends who would be here in 2 seconds flat if I asked them to be, and always provide more emotional support than they will ever know.  And then there's Bill, my husband of almost 9 years.  He's been with me since I was diagnosed, and he's watched me change physically and emotionally, I suppose.  And as much as lupus has continuously impacted both of our lives and the path we expected to travel together, the more committed to me and to us he's become.  I could not do this without him, nor would I WANT to.  He is my rock, and I am his, as he also allows me to be strong for him, which is more important to me than he realizes.  

Anyway, very recently we discovered that my kidneys may be failing much more quickly than they had been (I've had mild lupus nephritis - a form of the disease that affects the kidney's ability to function - however, this had remained stable for the last 3 years or so).  I'm not sure anymore what the immediate or long term futures hold for me, but I am so grateful to have these wonderful, wonderful people in my life (can't leave my kitty cats out!  Perceptive as ever, the three of them gather around me daily as if to say, "we're not gonna let anything hurt you, mom").

I had meant to use this space to talk about how imperative it is that we raise funds for new medications and to look for a very needed cure.  I'm sure that essay would have been worth reading, too.

But it's love, after all, that gets us through.  It's what matters the most.  Always.

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If you chose to donate to The Lupus Affiliation, donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts.  And although the Lupus Walk is scheduled for this Saturday, September 29 at Metro Park in Harrison Township, this fundraising page will be up until sometime in December, so please continue to pass it along!

Thank you for your support, in whatever form that comes. Please forward this to anyone who you think might want to learn about lupus, or to donate to the cause.