Hi it’s Jannie your favorite lupus warrior. As most of you know, I have been dealing with lupus since I was 10. This Halloween, it will be year 28. Other than having occasional joint flare ups and doctor appointments to the rheumatologist, I was leading a rather healthy and “normal” adult life. Then last August, I found out at the hospital that my kidneys were failing. It was all so sudden because just a few weeks before, the labs for my kidneys were normal. None of the tests done in the hospital showed infection so of course the doctors thought the kidney failure was probably caused by lupus attacking because they didn’t know what else to blame. They tried giving me high doses of steroids and a round of Rituxan (a type of chemo) in hopes that it will cause the lupus to go into remission so then my kidneys will have a chance to recover.

I ended up staying at the hospital for 25 days and my kidneys never recovered during that time. My weight increased by 27% in the first two weeks before I started dialysis! So once again, lupus has drastically changed my life, as well as my husband’s, who has taken on the role as my caregiver like a champ. Mike goes with me to every dialysis session even though it’s 3 days a week and they are each at least 4 hours long. More often than not, these sessions leave me exhausted so doing anything is difficult much less working. So far, it has been a less than fun ride that includes multiple hospitalizations with one involving an altered mental status and another where I almost suffocated to death.

Needless to say, I don’t want what has happened to me to happen to another person with lupus. Unfortunately, millions of people worldwide are suffering from this horrible condition and more are getting diagnosed with it every day. As you can see, we desperately need your help! This Saturday is the annual Walk To End Lupus Now for Arizona and my ask for you all is to at the very least consider donating $10 or more to the Lupus Foundation of America through my page for the walk. If you can share the link to my page with your family and friends, I would greatly appreciate it. The money raised will go towards the research we sorely need to produce more effective medications and hopefully find a cure for this vicious and unrelenting disease. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your time and for hearing me out about something that is very important to me. Sending you all much love and may you all be blessed in life.

Jannie Prom