Lifelong walk with Lupus

By Erin Perkins

Lupus shapes Shawna Schuh's life but she doesn't let it take over her life.

She is often tired due to chronic fatigue, she can be forgetful, she is sensitive to sunlight and lives with aches and pains in her joints but that's doesn't keep her down. However, it does shape some of the life decisions she's made.

"I've learned to have a plan b, c and d," she smiles.

Schuh, a Grand Forks resident, has lived with Lupus most of her life. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in one or more parts of the body. It affects about one in every 1,000 Canadians. It often affects organs and skin as well as causing joint swelling and pain. The variations of Lupus is as varied as the people it can affect. It is difficult to diagnose because it has many symptoms similiar to other diseases. The "flares" can be unpredictable. Some treatments include chemotherapy drugs, immune suppressants and steroids, which also have serious side affects.

For Schuh, her symptoms are not considered severe.

"My aches are mild," she says as she gets everyone t-shirts for the annual Walk for Lupus campaign she organizes in Grand Forks every year. "I'm not on (perscription) pain medications."

Some Lupus patients are so severe they are confined to wheelchairs, use walkers or have had several hip replacements just to keep them mobile.

The awareness and fundraising campaign for Lupus began in Ontario 11 years ago. Schuh has been organizing her Walk a Block of Lupus fundraiser for the past 10 years. On Saturday, May 5 she had eight people out to walk a block in downtown Grand Forks.

"I want to get awareness out there," said Schuh of why she does the walk every year. "I want people (who are living with the disease) to also know there is help."

She is one of about 50 Lupus patients in the Boundary region. Since she began the walk she's raised about $2,000 toward Lupus research and awareness campaigns.

Because of these nation-wide campaigns, Lupus research has come a long way in the past 50 years. Although there is no cure yet, there are ways to help patients live healthier, happier more pain free lives.

For more information about Lupus or to donate visit www.bclupus.org.