Lupus is not contagious.
Having it doesn't mean you prematurely die.
And people with lupus may feel well one day and not faking when they appear sick the next, says five-year lupus survivor Kenyetta Bray.
More Info
› To register for the Lapse for Lupus walk, go to www.eventbrite.com/e/lapse-for-lupus-registration-45042419088› Lupus survivors who want to join Chatt Lupie Warriors may message Daphne Ashley-Strong on Facebook.
Lupus patients Tina Reid and Kenyetta Bray walk together in South Chattanooga. They are among several women organizing the Lapse for Lupus walk Sept. 22.(Contributed Photo by Bob James IV)"I'm just really trying to bring awareness because the question that I hate is when people ask me what is lupus," she says. "You can tell by the way they look at you that they think 'Ooo don't touch me. She nasty.'"
Bray, who sometimes gets skin lesions because of the disease, is one of dozens of women organizing the city's first Lapse for Lupus 5K run/walk at Blue Goose Hollow Trailhead, 876 W. Ninth St. It's scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 22. Registration ranges from $25 to $35.
Lupus is a systemic autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs, according to mayo clinic.org. Bray adds that the disease makes it difficult for the body to fight off infection.
Bray's first contact with the disease was a boil under her arm. Doctors didn't know she had lupus then. They lanced it, and the infection spread across her chest. Sometimes she has lesions all over her body, but not because she's unclean. It's a result of the disease.
"I just feel like a lot of people aren't educated on it, and they should be," she says.
The Lupus Foundation of America estimates that 1.5 million Americans, and at least 5 million people worldwide, have a form of lupus.
Lapse for Lupus 5K organizers want to raise money and awareness about the disease.
The money will be used to start a lupus foundation in Chattanooga. They want the foundation to work with foundations across the country toward finding a cure.
Bray, other lupus survivors and women in the Zia Chapter of Eastern Star, organized Lapse for Lupus this year after the death of 29-year-old Shanice Masha' Coonrod Bledsoe, City Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod's oldest daughter.
The group uses the spelling Lapse to signify efforts to slow down and eventually wipe out the disease.
"We want to slow down the progression of lupus," says Coonrod. "We want doctors to do the research that's needed so we can find a cure."
Her daughter had been sick for more than a decade, but she wasn't diagnosed with lupus until a month before she died.
From the time people first notice lupus symptoms, it takes an average of nearly six years for people with the disease to be diagnosed, according to resources.lupus.org
Lupus is a disease that disproportionately affects women of color - African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans. And although it affects people of all ages, it's most often diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 45, according to mayoclinic.org.
Bray was sick for two years before being diagnosed. Before that, some doctors gave her steroid shots and told her the pain she felt was in her head.
Doctors at UT Family Practice promised they would determine what was wrong with her. They concluded lupus after looking at her history of illnesses and doing lots of blood work.
In 2017, the disease left lesions on the bottom of her feet, holes so big you could see inside them, she says. It lasted for three months and caused unbearable pain.
But on some days, Bray lives pain-free.
Daphne Ashley-Strong, a lupus survivor of 31 years, wants the lupus walk to become as large as the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure fundraiser for breast cancer research.
She started an online support group called Chatt Lupie Warriors for people with the disease.
People interested in the site can send her a message on Facebook.
"Since I've had it quite a while, I try to reach out to people," she says. "Some of the symptoms they're having, I've had."
About 12 people with lupus participate.
Tina Reid, a 31-year lupus survivor, says she's dreamed of organizing an event like Lapse for Lupus.
She goes to church and goes to work, but she wants her life to impact more people.
She encourages people with the disease that it can be managed if they take their medication and visit the doctor regularly. She also wants survivors to know that they are not alone.
She understands that sometime people think nothing is wrong with you when you have lupus. Reid wants lupus survivors to know they have support.
"If you speak out," says Reid. "They can know there's more love out there."
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.