Lupus Forum empowers people
HONEYDEW – The first annual Lupus Forum educated people at the Honeydew Shopping Centre about the disease on 8 May.
Gavin Kinnear from Reenergise organised the first annual Lupus Forum at the Honeydew Shopping Centre on 8 May.
The Lupus Forum was dedicated to educating and empowering individuals about lupus (a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body).
Most people at the forum were grateful to be taught about the disease.
Francis Schoeman from the Lupus Support Group South Africa, who was one of the speakers at the event, also suffers from lupus said more people should get educated about the chronic disease.
“A lot of people are uneducated, even doctors don’t know much about it. There is limited knowledge about lupus and we are here today to advise people that if you get proper diagnosis, you can live a better life, and again sometimes it might happen that a person might not get the proper treatment,” she said.
“Lupus differs from person to person – we have patients from 6 year old to 50 years of age,” she said.
Schoeman said a lot of people might have the disease and not be aware of it.
However, she advised, “If you are diagnosed with lupus be positive, it is not the end of the world. People that die are the ones that don’t have the correct treatment, or they are negative. When you have lupus, you need to adapt to all things that can happen to you.”
Another lupus sufferer from Eagle’s Flight Ministries Samantha van der Berg (25) who was also a speaker, said she was diagnosed with lupus in 2011 at just 21 years.
“I was diagnosed in 2011 and, in the past when you were diagnosed, the doctors would tell you that you have eight years to live, but it is possible to live a long life,” said Van der Berg.
She highlighted that sometimes families don’t support lupus patients because they don’t understand the disease.
“As a lupus patient, we take it one day at a time, sometimes when you wake up, you don’t know how you will react when you wake up and sometimes it is difficult for the families.
Van der Berg encouraged the families to get more information and learn about lupus,.
“Sometimes a family member suffers more than the patient because of lack of information,” she said.
Details: www.eaglefightministries.co.za
