(Birmingham, AL) WIAT- The goal of Walk for Lupus Now is to bring attention to the disease and raise money for patient services. Organizers were hoping to generate $25,000 from the Saturday event at Heardmont Park. Among the 300 participants were many lupus patients living with the disease.
"It's something I deal with every day and this walk means a lot to me because I want to raise awareness. It made it easier to tell my friends and family about my situation and gets everyone excited," said Katie Held.
Lupus sufferer Tashia Fleming didn't know much about the disease until after she was diagnosed. "But I had a family member that actually passed away from lupus when she was at the age of twenty. So I knew that it was serious disease," said Fleming.
There are twenty seven thousand lupus patients living in Alabama, according to Sherry Hammond. She is the President and CEO of the Lupus Foundation of America Mid-South Chapter.
"It's one of the diseases that are probably the most under-diagnosed and not known about diseases in the country. It's an autoimmune disease that affects mainly women. It's a minority disease that affects mainly women, but that's not to say that men don't have it. Ninety percent of people who have lupus are women," said Hammond.
People with lupus suffer from a wide range of symptoms. "The fatigue is probably the number one complaint that we hear about and it's like having the flu all the time. And people have extreme joint pain, muscle pain. Some people have a butterfly rash, but it's not mandatory to have the butterfly rash to have lupus. Other symptoms are ulcers in the mouth and nose and kidney problems. Some people have pleurisy or heart issues. Some people are affected by the brain so just any organ in the body can be affected with lupus," said Hammond.
Lupus patients are literally dying for a new treatment.
"We have not had a lupus drug since Eisenhower in over fifty years...an FDA approved drug," Jennifer Deason. "It's a very frustrating disease and a very complicated disease. It's not very well known in the public's eye and that's what we and the Lupus Foundation are hoping to bring out to everybody in America and all over the world. You know the devastation the disease can cause."
