May is

L
upus
A
wareness month.

M
ayor
S
tehen
W
ukela issued a resolution declaring this month as
L
upus
A
wareness month in
F
lorence.

T
he mayor made the announcement at the city council’s board meeting
Monday
after a
Florence
man who suffers from the disease made the request.

Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body
including
skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body. Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years.

In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs (“foreign invaders,” like the flu).

Normally our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders.

Autoimmune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues (“auto” means “self”) and creates auto antibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue.

These auto antibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body.

Lupus is also a disease of flares (the symptoms worsen and you feel ill) and remissions (the symptoms improve and you feel better).