When I was first dx I was told that I had about a 5 yr. life expectancy. For the first 3 yrs. my emotions had me on a horrible rollercoaster ride. Denial, Anger, Self Pity, Major Depression were everyday feelings for me. I didn't experience them one at a time, nope I experienced them all at the same time. It not only effected me, it effected my family as well.

It reached a state of emergency in my family when one of my sons turned to drugs and alcohol. He denied it, I denied it until it reared it's ugly little head one night in the form of a confrontation between him and I about him breaking his curfew for the hundredth time and he hurt me. Because of the seriousness of my injuries the State took my son to court and I sat in the courtroom and listened to 3 State Psychiatrists testify that it was because of my Lupus and the dramatic changes that had happened emotionally and physically to me was his underlying reason for his drug and alcohol abuse. I took this very hard but I also credit the experience as my wake up call and the beginning of me making peace with God and my disease.

I started a chat room, called Lupus Support, on Talk City so I could make a connection with others to talk and support each other. I have made the most wonderful friends from all around the country because of chat, not only were these friends helping me but I was helping them too. Suddenly I felt like I was not alone and that together we could make some changes in our lives and diseases.

About this time I met Chelsea, she came to chat because her daughter has Lupus. Chelsea had been reading our posts on LFA forums and listening to us on chat so she came up with a wonderful idea of making us quilts, similiar to the Aids Quilts, to tour the country to Promote Lupus and A.N.A. Disorders. To me this was the most unselfish act of love and humanity that I had ever heard of. Feb. 27th & 28th, 1999 I had the pleasure of showing two of her beautiful quilts here in S.C. in a Quilt Show and many of my internet friends flew or drove in and we had a wonderful reunion. In all we met over 80 people who came to the show because they have Lupus or know someone who has it.

The moral to this story is that I cope with Living With Lupus by trying to spread the word and promote and educate people about this disease. If this disease is going to take my life then my friends and my family will know in their hearts that Bethy Baby gave it the old college try to help find a cause and find a cure so that our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will not suffer so needlessly with this little known about disease.

My body may be broken but my spirit and my mind are still here and I will spend each and everyday of my life fighting with all I have to help US. We are in this fight together please don't ever forget that. Please read about Chelsea's Quilts on the attached link http://geocities.datacellar.net/Heartland/3736/index.html then join us to Promote Lupus Awareness.

Our Lupie Family Photo Album was a surprise Christmas present to us by our girlfriend Di. I was overwhelmed with honor that she dedicated the album to me. You can read some of the personal stories by clicking on the green tags beside the pics.

Last but certainly not least I want to thank my girlfriend Marcia for all her hard work in making this website for me. Marcia is a wonderful person and I can't thank her enough for all she has done for me over the past year.

Love,
Beth







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