If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know a LOT about my sister.

First of all, you know she’s absolutely adorable

married to the best guy in the world

and a doggie mommy to the cutest little furry child you’ve ever seen!

Milo!

You also probably know that she’s…

a wine enthusiast

a lover of fine food

an excellent dancer
a Jenga ninja

a shoe expert
and generally awesome and a total riot to be around.

I think that hits all the high points, no?

What you may NOT know is that she suffers from a chronic auto-immune disorder called Lupus.

The Q+DD on Lupus is this: Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints and/or organs inside the body). Normally our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from foreign substances, like bacteria and viruses. With lupus, your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues and creates autoantibodies (“auto” means “self”) to attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body. (www.lupusfoundation.org.)

While Katie’s Lupus does affect her everyday life in many ways, Lupus is largely a disease of “flares” and “remission” and Katie is a total fighter and does a good job of showing Lupus who’s boss.

However, for many people, Lupus is quite debilitating and can be fatal. As of now, the cause of Lupus is unknown and there is no cure.

The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) is the nation’s leading nonprofit voluntary health organization dedicated to finding the causes of and cure for lupus and providing support and services to all people affected by Lupus and next weekend my sister will once again be leading TEAM KATIE in the Birmingham “Walk for Lupus Now”

Last year’s team was incredibly successful in their fundraising goals and in being VERY ATTRACTIVE.  Witness:

Team Katie 2010

In fact, Team Katie was the #2 ranking fundraising team (missing out on first place by a VERY narrow margin!)

This year, however…Team Katie is TAKING NO PRISONERS. So far, TK has raised over $5K for this very worthy cause and is currently in the lead!

Please consider making a donation to TEAM KATIE…every little bit helps…and if you are a Birmingham reader, Katie would LOVE to have you as a part of her team next Saturday, June 11th (and if you wanna come with us from Atlanta, there’s room in the car with Greg, Olive and me!)

Please click here to visit Katie’s personal fundraising page!

Get your PURPLE ON next weekend in BIRMINGHAM!

xx, L

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