Observe World Lupus Day Every May 10
On May 10 we raise awareness of a baffling disease that causes a lot of different symptoms that sometime seem random: Lupus.
It’s World Lupus Day, created in 2004 by Lupus Canada to help people understand this often-misunderstood disease. Lupus organizations around the world called on their governments to help raise awareness, increase research funding and get patients better care.
Julian Lennon is a strong supporter of this day and the need to recognize the toll lupus takes on those who suffer from it. He lost a friend to the disease in 2009.
It’s not a very well-known disease, and many people have never heard of it. A person’s first experience with the disease may be their own diagnosis or that of a family or friend.
But thanks to this day, and the efforts of people like Julian Lennon, awareness is growing.
What is Lupus?
Lupus is an autoimmune disease. That means a person’s immune system attacks its own body.
You might be more familiar with another autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis, which attacks your joints. But lupus can attack any part of your body, including your joints. It may also attack your skin, damage any organ in your body and can cause life-threatening complications.
Symptoms can come and go, and they can be vague and resemble other diseases. This makes it hard to diagnose.
Common symptoms range from headaches and fatigue to swollen joints, sun- or light-sensitivity and a butterfly-shaped rash across your cheeks and nose.
The disease is most common in women, especially women of color. But anyone can get it. And late-onset lupus is more common in Caucasians. Estimates are that 5 million people around the world have lupus.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial holiday.
How to Observe World Lupus Day
The color for lupus awareness is purple. So one simple thing to do is wear purple.
There are also purple wristbands with the words “Help Us Solve the Cruel Mystery” you can buy to support the cause.
The Lupus Foundation of America online store sells 10-packs of these bands. (We do not benefit from you buying through this link).
The World Lupus Day website offers a free Lupus Day toolkit to help you spread awareness. One other simple option is to download the World Lupus Day logo and change your Facebook profile picture (and other social media profiles) to the logo for the day.
These websites can help you learn more about lupus. Several also have other resources, like posters and fact sheets you can use to help spread awareness:
Do you know of any other good resources for observing the day or for learning more about this disease?
[…] World Lupus Day: Learn more about this often misunderstood and hard to diagnose autoimmune disease. Because it can attack any part of your body the symptoms can look like many different diseases. That’s part of why it can take a long time to get a diagnosis. […]