Danielle Hall LIVING WITH LUPUS
“I live as if I would die tomorrow; I live as if I could live forever.”
S– Danielle Hall
OUNDS CONTRADICTORY, right? But that is the mantra that guides Danielle Hall as she is living with lupus.
According to the Lupus Foundation of America, lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body, whether it is the skin, joints, or organs. Our immune system creates antibodies which protect the body from things that do not belong, but with lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between ‘bad’ tissue and healthy tissue and, as a result, it creates antibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These usually cause inflammation, pain, and, even worse, damage in various organs or parts of the body.
In as little as four months, two prominent Jamaicans died from this illness; comedienne and media personality Elva Ruddock died on October 7, 2018, and Miss Jamaica 2014 finalist Zandrea Bailey died on January 13. Both of whom did not allowed the illness to take over their life but, like Hall, aimed to live a fulfilling life despite the often debilitating symptoms of lupus.
Hall shared with The Gleaner that she was diagnosed with lupus after she had an infection.
“I was officially diagnosed with lupus in 2011 after contracting meningitis in 2008,” Hall stated. After treating the meningitis, she had kidney infections and seizures, which included severe pain. “I had backto-back kidney infections following the meningitis and was later told that I have fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis because they did not know what was happening,” Hall stated.
She explained that she started to experience almost all the signs and symptoms of lupus, except the butterfly rash, but it was not until a second antinuclear antibody (ANA) test – the first test was negative – was done that she got the confirmation that she has lupus, and her life has changed since then.
“I remember when I was at UWI (The University of the West Indies) – at the time I was a part-time student – and I was working while studying,” she stated. “I would go to work from 7:00 a.m. and leave at 8 a.m. for my class at 9 a.m., only to leave UWI at 11 a.m. to go back to work until 4:30 p.m., when I would leave for classes until 9 p.m.,” Hall said.
OVERWORKED
As a result of this, Hall had a seizure and had to sit out the remainder of the semester due to stress and being overworked.
She further explained that surviving lupus is about support and knowing one’s condition.
“No lupus case is the same, so what affects me may not affect someone else,” she said, “But having someone to talk to, someone to be there for you through the small things, it makes a world of difference.”
Hall’s main support system was her mother, but tragedy struck in 2016 when her mother died.
“My mother was my rock through my diagnosis and the ups and downs of my illness,” Hall explained. “I remember coming out of the hospital January 2016 after a huge flare-up, and by February, my mother was admitted.”
She said it was difficult making several trips to the hospital to visit her mother while juggling everyday life with lupus. Her mother died a week after Hall completed her final exams at The UWI.
“I remember that I was diagnosed with the Zika virus during the days leading up to my mother’s funeral, and I didn’t go to the hospital because I couldn’t picture being at the hospital and my mother wouldn’t be there to visit,” Hall recalled.
She is grateful for the support from her immediate and church family and close friends, along with groups that she is a part of, because they have helped her to cope. She looks to the Lupus Foundation of Jamaica but mainly depends on the ladies in her WhatsApp group to encourage her while she does the same for them.
“We started with approximately seven persons, and now, there are over 20 of us in the group, but we lost four people between 2014 and now,” Hall explained.
According to lupus.org, at least five million people worldwide are affected by lupus, and 16,000 new cases are reported each year.
Hall stated that sharing her story is not for pity, but to encourage others who are living with lupus and to motivate them.
If you are willing to share your story of living with lupus, send an email to vanessa. james@gleanerjm.com.