Help Johanna Ruiz Receive Her Treatment

After months of dealing with a plethora of symptoms, my sister -Johanna Ruiz, 22 years old, many of you know her as Jo or Jojo- was diagnosed with lupus back in July 2014. If you don’t know, lupus is an autoimmune disease which is provoked when a person’s immune system attacks it’s own tissues, causing swelling in the body. A way she explained it was her antibodies were like “soldiers going to war but blindfolded,” they can’t tell the difference between a virus and her body’s own cells.

She occasionally has these episodes called “flare-ups” which is when her symptoms get worse but then improve. So sometimes, these flare ups get so bad we have emergency hospital visits or hospitalizations.

It wasn’t until January 2019 when she had mild symptoms of lupus nephritis -which is just a fancy term for saying someone’s kidneys are inflamed due to lupus. But everything managed to stay under control until January 2020. Her doctors are currently working on controlling her symptoms and lessening the inflammation on her kidneys to avoid kidney failure or needing a kidney transplant. She’s maintained a positive attitude throughout most of this time in treatment, but her symptoms don’t seem to improve as much as we would all like to see.

So her doctors decided to add on another medicine that has been proven to help many lupus patients known as Benlysta. It’s known to help control lupus by suppressing the antibodies. However, even with insurance this medicine is still costly and our family just can’t afford it, especially with COVID-19 taking a toll on some of our jobs. Her first try at this medication will be on June 11th and we’re hoping it will have some positive effects on her condition. We have to pay her co-pay before she can begin treatment.

Your monetary support will be greatly appreciated. However, we understand that times are a little difficult at the moment. If you can’t donate, please share the link.