Survivor Stories & Information

I suffer from a lot of different symptoms of several different conditions. In 2013, I was diagnosed as fibromyalgia and told I had symptoms and bloodwork that indicated rheumatoid arthritis (RA) without the rheumatoid factor. Almost two years ago, I got a positive ANA pointing to Lupus SLE, then another …

In 2009, when I was 19 year old, I had the hardest pregnancy I’d ever heard of. I could barely keep any food down, I was losing weight every week, I’d get light headed and dizzy every time I stood up and I was exhausted all the time. At 37 …

Lupus affects your kidneys, heart, lungs, joints, skin, weight, gives you severe anemia and fatigue, and some patients even have hair loss. Seems like a lot, huh? Well, it gets worst. They never tell you how these sicknesses affect you MENTALLY more than anything. I’ve been feeling really insecure lately, …

It all started innocently enough with a kidney infection. I had previously lost one kidney to severe infection at 17. But this kidney infection would not respond to anything…. I went into sepsis. Nothing was helping. Testing and investigation turned up that I had a primary immunodeficiency which was genetic. …

My name is Kayla, and I am 25-years-old. Around age 14, I was hospitalized for about a week with Meningitis. Ever since then, the fight with my body has been on. I constantly had all-over body pain and discomfort. I would have horrible headaches and be so tired that I …

I was diagnosed with arthritis at the age of 2 at SickKids Hospital. I had it tough because I always loved the outdoors, but sometimes I wasn’t able to even walk from the pain. When I was only in elementary school my face used to get this red rash which …

So Beautifully Broken Oh life, You have carved upon me, With pain as your brush, A canvas without mercy, The scars so ugly, At first. Time, Didn’t ease pain, Instead growing, Building tolerance, Bringing strength, From depths I never knew, Resided in me. Scars, No longer random, So densely meaningful, …

Despite being dealt a hand of lupus, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, I don’t see myself as a victim. Nor am I a winner or loser. I’m a warrior and survivor. I fight every day. I struggle and push myself to the very end of the fringe to accomplish things …

I was diagnosed with Lupus SLE in January 2016. I am nearing the end of year one, and and what a year it has been. Like most of you, I had been seeing doctors for over a year prior to being diagnosed. Test after test, lab after lab, and they …

My name is Jazmine. I live in Charlotte, NC, and I have been diagnosed with Lupus SLE. I am 22-years-old, and I was diagnosed with Lupus at the age of 21 in July 2015. My mother was diagnosed with Lupus SLE 10 years prior to my diagnosis, so when I …