Happy Wednesday!
May is Lupus awareness month! Each Wednesday during the month of May, I will be sharing my blog with my best friend! If you read the GTS blog, you know a little about Samantha and her lupus diagnosis. Lupus awareness month is the perfect opportunity for y’all to get to know her a little more until you can hold the book, based on her life (and mine), in your hands!
Samantha sent me an excerpt she completed, and I tweaked it a little (she’ll tell you I basically flipped everything around, hah!) because my brain does not allow me not to edit! Here we go:
Hi! As you already know, my name is Samantha! In this initial post, I will be sharing the beginning of my Lupus journey, thanks to one of my main supporters, Ariel.
Around the age of 10, I moved with my parents and siblings into a new house. I remember being scared to sleep alone in my new room, so I chose to sleep on the floor in my parent’s room. Each day I experienced body aches and overall soreness, but I continued sleeping in their room each night.
A few weeks passed and I noticed other body changes that did not seem to relate to sleeping on the floor. My appetite was nonexistent, my body weight dropped suddenly, and my hair started falling out. Going to school felt like a chore, especially gym class. I remember running pacers up and down the gym and moving as if in slow motion.
During the summer, I would sleep all day long and not eat. My mom tried everything to get food into my system. She made a meal of Spanish rice and pinto beans with a tortilla one day. I could barely lift the fork.
These concerns continued, and after a few weeks, I found myself sitting at an Urgent Care center with my mom and brother.
At the age of eleven, I received the diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or SLE.
Check in next week to read what happens next!
I hope y’all enjoyed this sprinkle of Samantha’s story. I met my amazing friend in the fall of 2013, after being hired on as a seasonal worker at Target. Samantha is now in her 30s and has lived with her diagnosis for 20+ years.
Over the next three weeks, Samantha will continue to share more about her personal experience, provide lupus facts, and simply raise awareness of the diagnosis.
Samantha is currently the president of the Lubbock Lupus Group, a non-profit organization raising money to help fund lupus research. She manages a Facebook page for people to follow along with what the organization is doing and to add a support group like style to those living with the diagnosis or loved ones of those with the diagnosis. I shared the link originally in the GTS blog post but will continue to share it in future posts.
Lubbock Lupus Group – LLG | Facebook
Follow the page as Samantha is sharing lupus facts all month long! She also posts helpful articles, posts addressing the medication prescribed to manage symptoms, motivational messages, and often funny memes when all you can do is attempt to laugh through the struggles.
Feel free to share her group for others living with lupus to find a support network or simply to continue spreading awareness throughout the world!
Samantha is using the hashtags #lupusawarenessmonth and #lupuswarrior within her posts. Use these hashtags and help her spread awareness for lupus!
Ariel Pierce 