“He looked over my file and said, ‘I got good news and bad news.’ I spent the next 7 months in and out of the hospital. I’d wake up with a swollen face, legs, hands. The pain was unbearable.”
‘I ran my fingers over the bald spots on my head. My eyebrow hairs were falling out, too.’: Lupus warrior says ‘I am so much stronger than I knew I could be’
‘I must be crazy.’ The façade was crumbling. I had a rash on my face, feet, and hands. I tried to smile and stay strong.’: Lupus warrior shares journey, ‘I am STRONG and radiant’
“I participated in an online course about ‘positivity,’ which aligned perfectly with my mentality of sugarcoating all my symptoms. I thought to myself, ‘All this can’t be true.’”
‘If you tell anyone about this, you won’t live.’ I was determined to break the generational curses and trauma. Survival mode kicked in.’: Abuse survivor shares journey to healing and self-love
“At 3 years old, I was forced to drink raw eggs and smoke half of a cigarette by my mom’s boyfriend. The court system failed me. At 19, I became homeless. I tried to leave my relationship but found myself fighting an uphill battle. By the time I had my second daughter, I knew I needed to find a way out.”
‘Lupus has given me the most self-confidence I’ve ever had.’
“I would wake up early in the morning with excruciating wrist pain, often so bad I couldn’t even lift myself out of bed.”
