Messages of Thanks
Here are messages of thanks from people living with lupus to those who continue to work tirelessly to advance the science and medicine of lupus.
I have been blessed and honored to be a part of one of the clinical studies for a new drug for lupus. Without the appropriate funds, the research studies would not be possible. I express my thanks to the scientists, researchers, my doctor, and the industries that are working so hard to help find new drugs that could one day treat and cure lupus.
Karla Hall
Carrollton, Alabama
I'd like to let everyone over the last 50 years whose helped try to find new cures and has helped the fight know that you are always in my thoughts and prayers and I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for never giving up and continuing the fight for a cure. May God bless you all. I would love to send a picture but it's currently not available for me to do.
Mallory Osborn
Robertsdale, Alabama
Thank you for providing funds for research; for creating companies to manufacture and distribute the much needed new medications for the treatment of Lupus. Thank you for risking financially -–sometimes everything you have -– believing that the drug you have developed, painstakingly going through the FDA approval process, is the one that will finally blow the socks off of SLE and grant me life. I am anxiously awaiting it’s approval and I am extremely grateful. Thank you.
Don’t give up. Don’t get discouraged by how long human testing takes and how slow the FDA is in approving your validated studies. We need your help -– there is no one else.
Submitted with great appreciation on behalf of all of us who daily fight the battle of lupus on a cellular and genetic level -– you will give me the gift of being alive for my grandchildren. What greater gift could you give to so many?
Candi Dabney MS, MFT
Irvine, California
To the researchers ... THANK YOU for your dedication and commitment to helping find the cure and cause of this debilitating disease. I pray often that God will show you things medically that will help you in your research to benefit those who suffer with lupus.
Connie
Oceanside, California
My heartfelt gratitude for all of the researchers and drug companies for so tirelessly trying to find a new drug for lupus. I pray that you all have the sustained strength and passion to help so many. Words can never express how many people will be touched by your efforts. May God Bless you all.
Lynne Kinney
Lakewood, Colorado
I cannot begin to thank the many researchers who are working tirelessly to provide new medications for lupus patients such as my daughter. One day it is my hope that someone, somewhere will produce the "magic potion" that will assist my daughter and those like her to lead a normal and productive life. My deepest gratitude goes to those who are striving to provide that promise to her and others.
Audree Weldon
DeLand, Florida
I do want to thank all the men and women dedicated to researching this heartbreaking disease, because of their dedication I have hope that no other family has to go through this.
Amanda Benson
Jacksonville, Florida
In memory of Melissa Mowery of Newport News, Virginia
Thank you for all of your time in the research of lupus. I pray that our government will supply you with all the funds you need to find new medications for this terrible disease. My wife has lupus cerebritis with central nervous system (CNS) involvement. It has caused brain swelling, affected her heart, lungs and the joints in her legs and elbows.
Timothy Welch
Alsip, Illinois
I am so VERY grateful to researchers and industry executives for their huge efforts in developing new, safe and effective treatments for lupus. We really need this! There are almost 2 million people in the U.S. waiting for new, better, effective treatment options.
If I could be of help and service in any way, I would.
Christine Emilie Jaksy
La Grange, Illinois
To those who take the time to do research and attempt to develop new drugs: I commend you! You recognize the importance of the lives you are helping if not saving. You understand the seriousness of lupus and despite adversity that you may find when attempting to get funding or approval, you perservere. For this I thank you from the bottom of my antibody-attacked heart.
Kristin Westin Sladek
Long Grove, Illinois
Thank you lupus researchers! Your work is vital to 1.5 million Americans, their families and friends and the public. This disease has an enormous emotional, and financial impact on individuals as well as society at large. Thank you for all you do!
Kendra Isola
Des Moines, Iowa
I know I speak for many lupus patients and their families when I thank researchers and industry executive for their extensive hard work in developing new safe and effective treatments for lupus. But I also am confident that I speak for many more when I urge Congress to put more money into lupus research so that new drugs can be developed to treat the disease.
Hope should not have a price tag.
Jen Lynds
Houlton, Maine
As a lupus patient, I'm profoundly grateful to the many scientists and industry executives who continue to search for answers. Only when their critical, promising work is supported through increased funding will lupus patients (and their families) benefit from the breakthrough of safer and more effective treatments. We've been patient long enough.
Carole Manny
Olney, Maryland
For researchers who are TRYING very hard to come up with new treatments, I truly appreciate all your time and efforts. Hopefully the government will join with you in tackling this horrible disease.
Jeannine Whitlock
Troy, Michigan
I also want to say thank you to the Researchers and Industry Executives who have championed our cause. My hope is that as awareness increases, so will the funding for you to continue in your efforts to understand and get answers for this complex and unpredictable disease.
Tiffani Stokley
Canton, Michigan
I am truly grateful for all the effort that the many researchers and industry executives have shown to find the right medicine for lupus sufferers. I deeply thank them for their continued dedication in one day finding a cure. Although I know it is not an easy task to do, I am glad someone cares, as much as, the person living with this illness.
Kimberlyn R. Davis
Kansas City, Missouri
There are days in my job as a mother that I am not sure I can go on. I ask myself if an end will ever be reached, if all the fuss I’m making over manners or trivial things like clean hands will ever even matter.
I imagine that your job as a researcher is kind of like that: it might take years before one tiny advance is made. And the only reason you carry on is because you made a commitment that you would. Maybe some days the joy and fascination is taken out of your research, and you don’t have much passion for it anymore. But on those days, will you do one thing for me? For all of us facing a lifetime of pain from lupus? Take a look at our photos, and keep trying just once more. We can’t do it for ourselves, so we must rely on you to do it for us. Remember, you’re not doing it only for us but also for our children and our children’s children. And you’re doing it for those who have already gone on before us, those who have died from this disease.
Thank you for going back to work when you feel like quitting. Thank you for sacrificing your sweat and tears on something that seems to have no answer. Thank you for giving of yourself to help the greater good. Thank you for all the advances you’ve already made, and for the ones you have yet to make.
My heart is wide open, pouring out all the gratitude I have for the work you’ve done. God bless you, and keep up the good fight!
Elizabeth Koziatek
St. Peters, Missouri
I would like to express my appreciation to researchers and industry executives. I am grateful to you for your efforts to develop new safe and effective treatments for lupus. Thank you for you time today. Please consider my request today as from someone you know who could have or may one day have lupus.
Kathy Strope, RN CCM,
Old Bridge, New Jersey
I would like to express my gratitude to the hundreds of researchers and industry executives who have been working tirelessly for many year to bring scientific discoveries from the bench to the bedside. Without your hard work, we who suffer from this chronic disease would have no hope.
Linda Friedel
Bayville, New Jersey
My name is Noelle Najjar and I live in New Jersey. I was diagnosed with lupus almost three years ago and since then, I have been working with my rheumatologist to find a treatment that will alleviate my pain and stop the progression of this devastating disease.
I want to thank you for your continued efforts to develop new, safe and effective treatments for lupus. You are my only hope for a normal life, free of pain and the debilitating complications of this horrible disease. Please remember that there are more than five million mothers, aunts, sisters, brothers -- people worldwide, struggling to get through each day and waiting for a cure that only you can provide. Thank you.
Noelle Najjar
Basking Ridge, New Jersey
I greatly appreciate the SLE research to find new medications and a cure. As a young person at 35, I am anxious to hear of any advances in this area and eager for more FDA approved medications. I have already been forced to change careers because of this disease and fear it will limit me more in the future. I strongly believe in research and have participated in the past for other conditions. I hope to participate in lupus research in the future.
Julie Weller
Rochester, New York
I understand there are about 30 different cures in the future for us lupus sufferers. What would it be like to not worry about getting out of bed tomorrow? To just hit the ground running, with out pain, red cheeks, and a bottle of pain killers in my pocket book. That would be a beautiful thing. So with that I thank you from the bottom of my heart all your efforts.
Terry Mennella
Lindenhurst, New York
I am forever in support, and grateful for all of the current technological advancements and to the researchers and executives who are working diligently to create a medication that is safe and effective in the treatment of lupus. Their hard work and focus on these new medical studies and treatments for lupus is astounding, and more appreciated than words can describe. I am by far not the only person that asks themselves these questions daily, and I will certainly not be the last. I ask humbly, please provide increased funds for research to find ways to develop safer and more effective targeted therapies for lupus. Nobody can afford to wait another 50 years.
Shannon M. Strong-Snow
Jamestown, New York
To all the researchers and industry executives. I personally want to thank you for your dedication in finding a cure for lupus. You are the warriors behind the scenes that often are forgotten. Without the dedication you have we would be a world of disease and no hope. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the work you do. You are truly special people.
Maryann Gibson
Charlotte, North Carolina
I'm grateful for the researchers and pharmaceutical companies that are dedicated to creating new treatments. I look forward to the many new treatments you have for Lupus. I have high hopes of knowing that eventually it will be known how to treat it with your help. Thank you very much.
Charlene Meadows
Charlotte, North Carolina
Steve and I would like to thank all the researchers for all they have done over the years. We hope that with all emails going to Congress from people with lupus and families that live with it, you can continue to do your jobs and find a CURE for all!
Steve and Candice Helms
Charlotte, North Carolina
I would like to sincerely thank the lupus researchers and industry executives for their efforts to develop new, safe and effective treatments for this unyielding disabler and killer we know as lupus. I can’t begin to express my appreciation for your work toward helping all of the lupus sufferers, whose faces you’ve never seen, have hope for a better and longer life due to your efforts. Perhaps, together, we can find a cure and one day take away the debilitating intruder who has taken so much from us.
Melissa K. Hand
Charlotte, North Carolina
I can't even put into words the gratefulness that fills us for the people who are tirelessly looking for a better way to treat and hopefully cure this disease. Dr. Stuart Kassan in Colorado took care of my mom for most of her life, and I know that his work and others like him are making a difference. There is a better way to deal with this disease and I truly believe that these individuals will find it! Keep working and know that while there is a lot of anger about this disease, it's not aimed at you, but at the monster that is lupus.
Melissa Ritts
Cleveland, Ohio
Your continued search for treatments and (hopefully) a cure for SLE are hugely appreciated by those of us suffering from the disease. I know it’s not as high profile as other diseases, but your commitment to trying to improve and save my life is important to me and my family and friends. I work with pre-medical and Y1 and Y2 medical students and the vast majority know little if anything about Lupus. I hope that in the future we can begin creating educational and research opportunities for pre-medical and medical students. After all it’s awfully hard to find a cure without continued brainpower.
Jennifer Rosichan
Cincinnati, Ohio
To the researchers, you are doing the best job you can do. You have given me hope that I can live a long normal life and enjoy my old age. I do wish new medication could be developed because the medication I am on now makes me dizzy and my head feel like it is spinning. But I am told this is the only medication we have to help you right now. So I take it daily and get through each day. I wish there was something better to help on the days when I cannot even get out of bed. I wish there was also better explanations as to why I got lupus. I wish you could find the key to prevent this disease. I’m sure you are trying and I hope this letter to Congress helps give you more money to try to figure out all the unanswered questions that lupus patients have.
Rhonda Stanish
Brookfield, Ohio
While I am sad about the loss of my sister because of lupus, I am thankful to all of the health care professionals who treated her and eased her pain in the last days of her life. I am also thankful for the research community that continues to search of treatment to this disease. I am hopeful that with the appropriate funding and desire, we can work together to find help for the millions of people who are affected by this disease.
David Corr
Centerville, Ohio
A big thank you to all researchers and fund raisers. You do a great job; keep going.
Norene Hansen
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
I know that there are many researchers actively working to advance the treatment of lupus and it is in their efforts and industry executives that I place my vision of hope. It is your continued focus on lupus that my family thanks you. We thank you for your dedication and continued work to develop new safe and effective treatments for lupus.
Loretta Careccia
Eugene, Oregon
I thank all of the wonderful doctors and researchers out there that are devoting so much time and effort to try to find new drugs and treatments for this devastating disease. For every one person afflicted with lupus, many more friends and loved ones are affected. We have gone too long without any variable new treatments. More funding needs to be made available, more government and foundation dollars put to work.
Lauren Middleton Drinker
Philadelphia, PA
I am VERY appreciative to the researchers and industry executives who have tried on their own to help lupus patients, but as much as they try they just can't do it all by themselves. I would very much appreciate it if you could give them more funding so that their research can be even more effective. Even if we can't find a cure, maybe we can find medications that will relieve the pain, organ failure, pneumonia, blood disorders and other things that cause lupus sufferers so much grief and eventually death.
Beverly Quickel
Waverly, Tennessee
I certainly want to thank all of the researchers and executives for their effort in working on new drugs for lupus. I know this must be a taxing effort but rest assured it is well worth every minute of your time. I for one speak on my behalf how I appreciate any little bit of new information or hope when offered from you. So thanks from the bottom of my heart for your tireless efforts in helping with the research.
Brenda Kerns
Knoxville, Tennessee
My name is Monique Joanna Akers. I’ve been diagnosed with lupus for seven years. It is through the hard work of many scientists, researchers and dedicated physicians that I am able to share my story. The medical options that were available to treat my disease in 2001 are the same options that available to me today. I hope for progress and I dream of a drug that will ease the suffering of many patients with lupus.
Monique Joanna Akers
Washington, DC
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