Lent is over. Advent is a long while away. But, today, I’m going to wear purposeful purple!

May is Lupus Awareness Month, and today is Lupus Awareness Day, and the color is purple.

Purple is a deep color, sometimes mysteriously so, and lupus is the quintessentially mysterious disease – there’s no cure, there are not many treatments and no one “lupus test,” and there’s no telling when or in which organ it might flare up.  Living with lupus is like living with something completely life disrupting just around the corner and, sometimes, front and center for a long time.

When I was first diagnosed, I was told that it usually takes 3 full years before the newly diagnosed patient has an awareness of what the disease will mean to his or her ongoing life. It’s no wonder, then, that it’s hard for those who don’t have lupus to fully understand the weight of the illness, and the burden upon physical and emotional strength it sometimes poses. For people with a “known” illness, we lupies are certainly unique. We don’t look sick. We can’t be easily “classified,” when it comes to treatments, symptoms, or even prognosis (each lupus patient is completely different).  We might seem like hermits, avoiding the sun, crowds, and sometimes the most mundane of activities due to fatigue.  And, if we are to be fully helpful to our medical team, we have to acquire knowledge surpassing “what is the common cold,” and stay on top of things we never dreamed we’d have to be familiar with.

Today, we put on purple, together and individually, to raise awareness that, at least, lupus “is,” and we are still living and fighting. If you have lupus, I’m right there with you and cheering you on. And if you don’t have lupus, I want to thank you for reading this, learning, and supporting those of us in the trenches. It’s so very important that we know we’re not alone, and with your encouragement and God’s grace, we’ll move ahead and onward to the next Lupus Awareness Day and beyond!
Blessing for the day,

Maureen