I know I'm doing my part...and that in and of itself is rewarding. I still have good days and bad ones. But I'm winning.

It took seeing four rheumatologists before Michelle McGuire got a lupus diagnosis and started getting the help she needed. She fights every day to not let lupus win!

Kayla best friend Kaitlyn lost her battle with lupus when she was only 15. Kayla continues to stick up for her and others fighting lupus.

I saw a doctor in 2005 who said that I might have lupus. Back then I didn’t even know what that meant, and it totally went in one ear and out the other. Honestly, I was so caught up in my job/jobs that I didn’t even want to know what it was and ignored it.

As one of the many faces of lupus, my journey has been just that, A Journey! In the summer of 1991 it started out with me having a month-long body rash and swelling in my hands. That turned into a headache, which turned into a fever and multiple trips to the doctor.

I was three years old when I started gymnastics. It was a sport I loved and gave me my competitive edge. Fast-forward 11 years later… I was still a competitive gymnast for my high school team but something was different. I was getting hurt more often, taking longer to recover, and my energy level was at an all-time low.

Our baby girl, Meona, was diagnosed with lupus when she was only 8 years old. And she gained her wings three months ago today, at the tender age of 23. When the coroner’s office called, they said they would get back to us with the autopsy results as soon as they could, “because people don’t usually die from lupus.” How was it that the person on the other end of the phone could be that misinformed? People do die from complications of lupus. Our beautiful daughter is one of them.

Meet Suzi Swinehart. Suzi is a wife, a mother, a behavioral therapist, and an ultramarathon runner who has lupus! Suzi faced the ultimate challenge in July 2019, when she competed with 99 other of the most elite runners in a 135 mile, 3-day foot race across Death Valley.

Hello, my name is Frances Pierce. I am 55 years old, residing in Indianapolis, Indiana, living with Lupus and I am proud of it. I have three lovely daughters and three grandchildren. In the story of my life, I can say that I wear the illnesses that I carry, the illnesses don’t wear me. For many years, I didn't understand “why me”, but then I asked God and thought “why not me”? I had to become the vessel and the testimony to tell somebody just what I was going through.

I was diagnosed 7 years ago, and at that time, had never even heard of lupus. When I got diagnosed my mom and I had to research what it was. I was 23 and noticed that I was just not feeling well. I remember telling my parents repeatedly that I didn’t feel well. They believed I was simply very sad because my grandpa, who I was very close with, had just passed away. Or, they attributed it to missing my brother, who had just moved away to start college at IU.