Leianalani G. - Diagnosed at Age 11

I was diagnosed with lupus in 2021 when I was 11 years old, but I’ve been dealing with lupus all my life. Two of my sisters had lupus. I say had because in 2020 my sister, Salina Galera, passed away from lupus. And this year, 2026, my sister Sienna Galera, passed away from lupus. 

It’s not only been heartbreaking that I’ve had to go through loss from this illness, but the quiet anticipation of knowing I may have a short life because of this illness as well…it’s scary. The physical toll that lupus has on me has no match to the emotional and mental pain it has caused me. A lot of times, I feel like I have to push myself to “be normal” because no one knows how it feels to have an invisible illness. While going through lupus flares, I’m always accused of eating something wrong or overexerting myself, and they set limits for me. But they don’t understand that my internal protector ( my immune system ) targets its own cells and dna, 24/7. Yes, there are things that worsen this, but in general, it’s not my fault I was in a flare up. My immune system being over-activated can happen all on its own. 

I take all sorts of different medications daily, to maintain my condition. My medications help me long-term, greatly. But they have current side effects, which aren’t fun. They mess with my energy, my sleep, my appetite, my appearance, my nerves, and my hormones. But I’m not complaining. This is what I must do to live. Speaking of living, I’m still only in high school. I do online school because it’s just easier this way. My body can be unpredictable and I can be great one day, and can’t even function, the next. This has also limited my social life. I know I’m missing out on a lot, but I have whole different problems then most high schoolers have. It’s hard for me to even be confident in what I want to do in the future, knowing that my body can’t always be reliable with work. But, I’d love to help my community somehow and be even a little bit impactful.