TEAM A & J LUPUS LOOP SHIRTS

The Pittsburgh Area Lupus Loop will be held on Saturday, September 6, at Station Square in Pittsburgh. The event starts with registration at 8:30. You can walk, run, skate, and even bring your dog! Here's a link for event registration: https://friendraising.donorpro.com/campaigns/32
You DO NOT have to participate in the event to purchase a shirt. Team A & J stands for Ashley and Jonella. Here's some info about us: ASHLEY: As many of you may or may not know, I'm Ashley. I'm 26. I have SLE. I was diagnosed in 2010 at age 22 after having unexplained symptoms for a number of years. At the time, we thought it would be a simple fix and i'd get back to a fairly normal life. Unfortunately, it's been anything but that. Lupus has been pretty much relentless since then, attacking various organs at one point or another, including dealing with NPSLE, which has required me to undergo 2 rounds to Cytoxan(IV chemotherapy) and more steroids than I can possibly remember(just to name a couple things). There are times I can't feel my left side, I get pericarditis,migraines that last weeks at a time, vasculitis in my intestines, I have seizures, I can't tie my own shoes, and I can barely move or hold a fork from the pain in my hands. I have a condition called gastroparesis, due to lupus attacking my autonomic nervous system. I either don't sleep at all, or can't get out of bed. I can't even count how many times i've landed in the ER this year and have been hospitalized. This is just a small sliver of daily life with a severe case of this disease. Why am I telling you this? Certainly not to feel bad for me, because I don't thrive on pity. I'm determined to make the best of things and somehow get back on my feet. I'm just explaining what I deal with because so many don't understand WHY funds need to be raised for lupus. We need better meds and awareness!
JONELLA: Many of you know that I've been battling SLE LUPUS for years. This disease causes my immune system to attack my healthy tissue instead of bad things like viruses and bacteria. Lupus can be devastating and life changing...and fatal. Lupus has attacked my blood, joints and connective tissue, lungs, brain and nervous system, eyes, skin, circulatory system...No part of the body is off-limits to lupus. My treatments have included steroids, anti-malarial drugs, organ rejection meds, biologic IV infusions, aspirin, and even chemotherapy. I recently spent two weeks in the hospital, in isolation, because my white blood cell count dropped to zero. This year I've also had pneumonia, a kidney infection, inflammation in my colon, and a laundry list of other infections, as well as several significant lupus flares. Currently there is no cure for lupus. Several new medications are being tested and developed. We are participating in Pittsburgh Lupus Loop 2014 to benefit Lupus Foundation of Pennsylvania, an organization that represents a cause very important to me. Please consider supporting us in our efforts for this worthy cause! All proceeds go to the Lupus Foundation of America, Western PA Chapter. What does "sucktastic" mean? Those living with lupus often feel "less than fabulous." Actually, we often feel downright awful. But, it gets old always saying you feel horrible. We can't lie and say we're fantastic...but we can chuckle and say we're "sucktastic." In other words, we're not going to let this disease keep up down! We're still going to smile! Thank you for helping lupus warriors win their battles!