SHOUT it from the roof tops!!!!

May is Lupus awareness month and it's time to spread awareness and educate people on this non-curable auto immune disease. The statistics speak volumes about this disease, but its still amazing how many people aren't aware of the long term damaging affects & life threatening affects of lupus. There is nothing to be down played with this disease. Those with lupus can say it time and time again, just because we don't look sick doesn't mean we're not sick. Just take a look at a few of these statistics: 

Ø       More people have Lupus than AIDS, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis & Cystic Fibrosis combined!

Ø       Every day 48 people are diagnosed with SLE

Ø       Lupus is more common that the community in whole realizes. Over 1.5 million Americans have Lupus (1 out of 200)/over 5 million throughout the world!

Ø       Estimates say 16,000 Americans develop Lupus each year.

Ø       Lupus strikes mostly women of childbearing age (15-44/80%). However; men, children and teenagers develop lupus too.

Ø       90% of those with lupus are women.

Ø       Lupus affects African Americans three times more commonly than Caucasians. Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans are also more commonly affected.

Ø       Lupus is very difficult to diagnose as there are “great imitators such as Multiple Myeloma and MS, to name a couple.

Those are just a few of the damaging statistics.

Since May is Lupus awareness month I have chosen to walk with our support group in the Lupus Foundations "Walk for Lupus Now" walk in NYC on May 19th, 2012. I could have chosen to do the Lupus walk in state, but I chose this walk b/c I want to walk with my team, rest of the admins; who are from NY. As they say, there's NO "I" in "TEAM". I'm very excited to be part of this walk and to be with my team.

This is the link to my "walk" page: http://donate.lupus.org/site/TRC/Walk/General?pg=peditor&fr_id=1464&px=2135471