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Sitting in the audience with my boyfriend, I heard my sister begin to speak on the microphone. After the first sentence Tiombe' began to cry. Immediately I gasped and ran out of the auditorium and building. Being overwhelmed with emotions I just walked and cried." Kai Majors was a rambunctious, pain-in-the-butt, athletic teenager when she became ill. She was ostracized and made fun of by her peers because of the legions and blisters covering her body. Several teachers wanted her removed from school due to misinformation and lack there of. Lupus is not contagious. Although not definitely hereditary, relatives of lupus patients have a slightly higher risk of developing the disease. Only the symptoms are treatable due to no cure. As time went by the disease became more and more debilitating for her. The painful arthritis, constant ridicule, fevers, oozing blisters and other problems plummeted her into a severe depression. "Mommy I don't want to live. I'm ruining your life. It hurts too much. Please let me die, please." This was a constant anthem from Kai. Her mother Myna would hug and console her constantly reiterating; " you have to survive because god has big plans for you and if you don't we have nothing to live for." She was very angry with the world especially god for being stricken with such a hideous disease. After several medications, immense behavior modifications and 18 months later the lupus began to go into remission. Kai had become more informed about lupus and was learning how to coup much better. 1999 proved to be an incredibly turbulent year for her. In January her lupus resurfaced with a vengeance. She began to have seizures, neuropathy in her feet, kidney problems, convulsions and a host of other issues. This constantly had her in and out of the emergency room and hospitalized for weeks at a time. Lupus is known to be very stress related. Kai's lupus surfaced at two pivotal points in her life. Close to graduation from 8th grade and then again graduation and midterms from high school. Her mother had been sleeping with her for weeks due to the new problems. One lone night in April Kai felt restless and decided to have a midnight snack. After returning with some cookies to bed; she began to have severe convulsions and went into cardiac arrest. Myna attempted to administer CPR, but to no avail. Kai's mouth was locked shut on the cookies. Kai was slipping away. She was eventually revived by mouth to nose CPR administered by her father.The lupus had attacked her brain. NEXT PAGE |
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