Jun 08

Team KATIE 2K12

By Lauren

This afternoon, I’ll be hitting the road for Birmingham to join my sister (and a bazillion of her supporters) in support of TEAM KATIE in the Walk for Lupus Now tomorrow morning!

As you may remember, my AMAZING seestah Katie suffers from Lupus and for the 4th year in a row, has been leading the charge to raise funds and awareness for The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) – which 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.

(FYI: 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.