Providing Answers, Support and Hope in Kansas, Missouri, and Central & Southern Illinois
Help us finish strong in 2023 by donating to our Year-End Giving Campaign to raise funds for lupus research, awareness, and vital programs and services to help those affected by lupus improve their quality of life.
Donate
When Kendra Brooks was a child, she experienced unbearable joint pain that doctors said was growing pains. But the pain just got worse until she was finally diagnosed with lupus when she was twelve. When she was in college, her kidneys failed due to lupus nephritis, and she was forced to start hemodialysis treatments which she endured for over four years.
Lupus nephritis is more prevalent and often more severe in minority women. Studies show that minority women who develop lupus at a younger age tend to have worse symptoms and outcomes, including end-stage renal disease.
Luckily for Kendra, her mom was able to donate her kidney to someone in need and in exchange, Kendra received the kidney she so desperately needed. Two days after her 24th birthday, Kendra was a part of an eight-person kidney swap and received a life-saving kidney transplant. Today, thanks to the transplant, Kendra is doing much better and found a job she loves as a dialysis coordinator and educator at a hospital. She is making it her mission to educate others about lupus so that no one has to suffer from kidney failure.
Over the last several years we have seen such incredible progress in medications developed specifically for lupus and lupus nephritis, with new treatments coming to market. The Lupus Foundation of America has contributed to nearly every significant research breakthrough in lupus, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to continue building on our milestones, which in 2023 included:
- Finding safer, faster ways to target treatments for lupus nephritis.
- Isolating the causes of cognitive dysfunction and depression in children, adolescents, and adults with lupus.
- Understanding the connection between the sun and genetic changes that occur in the immune system leading to the development of lupus or lupus flares.
- Unveiling how viral infections might cause lupus onset and progression.
- Demonstrating the need to treat heart disease in people with lupus.
None of this progress would be possible without the generous support of our donors. Please consider making a special year-end donation of $25, $50, $100 or more. Your support makes a real, lasting impact in the lives of people like Kendra, who are living with lupus and count on the Heartland Chapter for help and support.
Donate $500 or more and join our Circle of Heroes, a committed group of individuals and corporations who give generously to build a circle of caring and support around people with lupus so they know they are not alone.
