Mohammed Y. -- Diagnosed Age 31

In 2010 I kept slumping with tiredness on my desk at work. I took leave to rest my body and at that time, I started having water retention issues. It got to the point that I couldn’t breathe as water had filled from my feet up to my chest. I was sent for a biopsy and diagnosed with severe lupus nephritis. I had renal failure. I went to the best hospital in England for help.

With each medication I took for my kidneys, they just would not respond. My chances of survival were slim. Only after a recommendation from a professor in Cambridge I was started on light chemotherapy. This worked as my kidneys started to respond.

Lupus has been life changing for me, I can never plan anything as I don't know how I will feel in the morning. One thing that has not changed is the severe bone and muscle pain. Being on a vast list of medicine also causes hot and cold fevers, but my biggest battle is with tiredness. Every day is different and for no reason at all my energy drops and I just have to lay in one place until I can move.

A few years later my kidneys failed again. The hospital staff followed the same routine as last time and I am now in remission. My specialist seems to think I must have gotten lupus when I was young since I was diagnosed with the most aggressive type of lupus. I am and will forever be grateful to all the doctors and hospital staff who saved my life.