The Color Purple #LupusAwareness #PutOnPurple

I’ve never given much thought to the colors of my clothes till today. My friends have been running a lupus awareness campaign online (#SheBlossoms) and it so happens that guys were to wear the color purple for a walk at the Nairobi Safari Walk or wherever you are if you’re not able to make it. I am part of the latter.

Finding the color purple in my wardrobe has proved mission impossible but I figure I could do just as much by educating you, my reader, especially those of you who’ve never heard of Lupus, and asking you to put on purple wherever you are.

I didn’t know much about Lupus myself, an autoimmune condition which affects the body’s defences against illnesses and infections, till the same group of friends decided to organize a fundraiser for Juliet Maruru – the awesome being who introduced me to ideagasms and has been a friend ever since I walked into the StoryMoja offices back in 2014.

The more I immersed myself in the campaign, the more I realized that, just like me, a lot of guys are not properly informed about the illness and there is a lot of misconception about it.

Hey @Sheblossoms, What are some of the common myths/misrepresentation on lupus #LupusinKenya

— #TheAfricaWeWant (@africanplato) May 17, 2016

I’ve personally heard everything from ‘You don’t look sick’ to ‘lupus is a result of HIV’ @africanplato #LupusinKenya

— Juliet Maruru (@Sheblossoms) May 17, 2016

It still baffles me why so little awareness is given to Lupus but slowly we are taking steps in the right direction and as far as I can see there is now more conversation around the same.

Lupus is an incurable immune system illness, probably genetic in origin and mainly suffered by females. It can affect any part of the body which makes it very dangerous.  It can produce many symptoms and family doctors often fail to recognise it.

The two major symptoms are joint and muscle pain and an extreme tiredness. Rashes, depression, anaemia, feverishness, headaches, possible hair loss and mouth ulcers may all be part of the pattern of lupus.

And that’s the just a sample of the information one needs to understand on lupus. I can’t delve into the subject exhaustively but you can read more about Juliet’s lupus journey and get to know more about the illness from her blog here.