Hello, my name is Tammy Boesen. I have been battling with Lupus for 15+ years (you never really know how long you have had it. It usually takes a minimum of 5-10 years to have the full diagnosis). You have good days and bad days. You never know what your day is going to be like, it can switch like a drop of the hat.
I will be walking/wheelchaired for this year's Walk to End Lupus Now and I am looking for support from everyone around me to help in any way possible.
This disease, I would never wish on the weak or even my worst enemy (I don't believe I really have enemies, but if I did, I would never wish this on them). It is pain (from head to toes), it is mind figs, it is being able to walk to not even being able to move, it is your hungry one minute to throwing up the next, it is in your joints, it is your normal body weight to you are so swollen your own family members do not even recognize you, it affects your breathing to your eye sight, it affects your moods from good to bad, it affects you by needing no medications to needing a bag full, it affects you from not needing to see doctors to seeing them daily/weekly. This are just the tip of what we, as Lupus patients, go through in our life. Frustration is not even the perfect word for it, but I have grown as a stronger person ever since this has happened to me. You want the answers, but when you try to find them, you feel as if you are in a rabbit hole.
Having Lupus has truly opened my eyes on who I am. I am a person of strength and control of what I want in my life. So, since I have no control on having Lupus, I do have control on how I am going to allow it to work in my life. I have learned that I have more strength in myself than I thought I ever have. I have taken control of my life by Not allowing the Lupus to 'Be Me'! I do not want to be the Lupus. I continue to try and stay Happy, Loving, Caring and Be the Best Friend I can be to others. I try to be an advocate to others struggling with their ailments and Lupus. I always strive to continue being that energetic person with the Big Smile on my face not letting my ailments or Lupus take me away!
I hope and wish that you or any person you care about would never to have to go through anything I have endured in my life with this battle. I would wish that I have been given this Lupus disease because someone (or more than one person) was not able to handle it, but I was a person that was strong enough to take it on for your loved one(s) !!
Please, if you can help support me in this walk to try and make a cure, donate. I really appreciate any contributions.
Tammy
