From the Archives: Fall 2009 issue of Lupus Now
Sharing the Story: Why Awareness Means Hope
by Gerri Miller
photography by Stephanie Diani
To look at Wendy Rodgers, you’d never know she’s lived with the devastating effects of lupus for nine years. She’s experienced myriad serious complications, several hospitalizations, and finally, in May 2009, a kidney transplant. Like many people with lupus, Rodgers doesn’t look sick. With no outward manifestations other than a scar on her arm from all the years of dialysis treatments, Rodgers once brought a box containing 24 different medications to a Medicare office as evidence of the seriousness of her illness. “When you say you have cancer, people understand. But with lupus, how can you show you have joint pain? If you look good, people don’t believe you, because they don’t know.” So Rodgers is doing everything she can to teach them.
The 36-year-old former math and science teacher now uses her firsthand experience to educate others. She speaks out about lupus and participates in the “Could I have lupus?” awareness campaign, produced by the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) in conjunction with the Ad Council and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. “I’ve always been an educator, but now it’s just in a different classroom,” says Rodgers.
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