Lupus Walk 2010

 

 

As most of you know. My great friend Shalyse has been living with Lupus for the past 13 years. She has gone through more procedures and surgery than anybody I know personally. Long before Shalyse and I had even met she had endured a crazy procedure called Pericaridocentesis( click here to learn what this is) she also had her gallbladder removed all by the age of 17. When her and I first met she was doing Monthly Chemo-therapy treatments, we were 17. If you have ever known anybody that has had to endure this horrific therapy, you know that the side effects are not the least bit friendly. Chemo couldnt hold her down, Shalyse managed to slide through her senior year with amazing grades and she wasn’t taking the usual easy courses that most Seniors take. She lived her life as though she was healthy as her peers, and nothing stopped this girl. She is such an amazing person. This was the beginning of how much strength I would see from this teenager. When Shalyse and I first met I was in complete shock about how many pills she had to remember to take on a daily basis. Im not talking one or two, three times a day. One time we counted and she was taking almost 30 a day!! Can you imagine?? I could barely remember to get myself out of bed and go to school, let a lone keep track of all of those meds.

When were were 20ish her health started declining. She knew it was coming, her proteins in her urine has been getting higher for a while now. She ended up in the hospital in complete Renal Failure. Her Kidneys had given up they lost the battle to Lupus :(

Next on the agenda, Dialysis. Wow, that was such a change in lifestyle for her and everyone that surrounded her. Dialysis is time consuming, three times a week for four hours a day. It may not seem like a long time but it was. The very strict diet that she had to follow. We were all together so much that we all had to follow that same diet, lol. You learn to like things without salt. Pretty sure Ms. Dash was her best friend. That was the only thing she could use to get flavor in her food. She had to read every ingredient, ask so many questions when we would try to go out to a restaurant. The constant questions about her central line, that was fun though making up stories to tell people. “I was shot” was my personal favorite. She had such a great companion in her sister Tish, she was there constantly for her big sister. She was nurse Tish and took such great care of her during all of this. Shalyse is one lucky girl.

The good thing about dialysis is that it didnt last as long for Shalyse as so many other people that we saw there. She was healthy enough for a transplant!!! So we all went down to the hospital to get checked out. BINGO Dad was a match. We did it, we found her a living donor that was the best possible match and we did it SO fast. What an amazing sacrifice that he made to give life to his daughter, again :)

January 15th 2004

Not only is that my beautiful Mom’s birthday but also the day that Tom began living the rest of his life with only 1 kidney and Shalyse started living her life with 3. I was living in Moab at the time so I got up and started the 4 hour drive to see the Lopez family at the hospital. I was pulled over for speeding, but when I told the officer that I was headed to SLC to see my best friend who was  receiving a kidney transplant he let me off with a warning. Thanks officer.

Tom was out first healthy and a little lighter. Shalyse came out a while later obviously and her body handled it great. So now with a new kidney came more pills lots of more pills and very strict time constraints. There is so much testing that goes on in the beginning to make sure the prograf is at the right dose for her body to not reject the second chance at life.

Rejection happened twice in the first year or so, but she has been doing great and living life to the fullest with her extra kidney. I am so grateful to have such an amazing woman in my life. Shalyse is beautiful, funny, smart, resilient, giving, caring, and most of all the best friend a girl could ever ask for. In the 10 years Shalyse has been in my life she has taught me so much. I would have to write a whole different post to tell you all of the things this young woman has taught me about life, by just living her life. I love her so very much and that is why it was so important for me to join the Lupus walk with Shalyse and her family this year( and many  more years to come). I was able to make a donation page and had so many generous friends and family donate to help find the cure and other research to keep my friend and many others here with us for as long as possible.

THANK YOU to all of you who donated to such a wonderful cause.

below are a few pictures from our day at the park to support Lupus.

  

Check out the greeter in the background he was hilarious

 

The long line of supports and survivors

 

Taylor getting ready to show her support for Aunt Sha

 

This was just one of four Utah Cyber Sluts. click on the link to see what amazing things they do to help our Charities and other events like this one

   

Our Team. Shalyse, Tish Jazylynn, Tom, Toni, Debbie, Sheena, Taylor and Alyssa.

 

Sha and I. Yes it was freezing and raining while we were walking but it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day.

 

The walker that had Lupus were given these butterflies

 

 

Our Team Tie dying our Lupus shirts

 

Taylor showing off her purple lupus butterfly

Even Big Buddha from fox 13 was there showing his support