<div>A message from Samantha:

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<div>“If you know me then you know that I am not a fan of asking for help, but my life has taken me down a crazy new path and I can’t do this one alone. For a little over a year, I have had severe fatigue and irritability. This was affecting my energy at work, my relationships with friends, and my relationship with myself. Everyday felt like such a chore for some reason and I slowly found myself skipping ski practice, canceling plans with friends, and basically shutting myself down. At first I thought it must just be a sleep issue, or that I needed to do less activities because I was making myself too exhausted. About 6 months ago I noticed I would get weird rashes on my face, my hands/feet would turn purple, and I was starting to have severe joint pain. This was concerning to me as I am a 23 year old healthy person and my gut was telling me that something wasn’t right. When brought up to my doctors, I was told that my blood draws looked fine and I must just be dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety. Yes, I was (still am) struggling with my mental health because I was in pain every day and not able to prioritize the things that make me happy. In February of 2025 I started feeling helpless. The pain was getting more severe and I was just so exhausted. <strong>This is when I first attempted to take my life.</strong> Now here’s the thing, I’m a happy person. I love my life and I love the people in my life. But I felt like I was crying for help and nobody was listening. I was in denial about how bad my mental health had really gotten and tried to push my first attempt off as something that will never happen again. So I continued to try and push through the pain. In April 2025, I woke up one morning in more pain than I had ever been in. It wasn’t getting better throughout the day so I took myself to the ER. There wasn’t much they could do and I wasn’t taken seriously because it wasn’t a visible pain. Again, I felt helpless. I had started to gaslight myself that it was all in my head and I was just crazy. <strong>This is when I attempted to take my life for the second time.</strong> Doctors were concerned about why I was feeling so low, and ran some more blood tests. I had multiple abnormal/concerning results come back. They determined that I have an autoimmune disease, but I would have to see a rheumatologist to do further testing. I made the appointment with the specialist, but decided that its time I take responsibility of my health, mentally and physically. I started to game plan with my support systems, and we came to the conclusion that it would be best for me to take some time off of work to attend a day group treatment program. <strong>I recently had more testing done and have been diagnosed with Lupus.</strong> If you don’t know what Lupus is, it’s a chronic disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs. There is a part of me that is relieved I have the answer to why I have been in so much pain, and had so many other symptoms, but there is another part of me that is angry and hurt that I had to feel so alone for so long. I am in the process of starting treatment for both lupus and my mental health. <strong>Because I have to take time off of work to be able to get the help I need, the medical debt and financial burdens associated with pursuing treatment have been a huge stressor on me.</strong> I know that times are hard for everybody, but if you’re able to help in anyway it would mean the world to me. All the love always.”

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Diane Neby

Shawn Larson

Devon Watters

Anonymous

Matt Schubert

Teresa Jackson

Dody Kettler

Frances Jacob

Sandra Brown

Dawn Knutson

Claire Knutson

Brendan Mock

Kassidy Veness

Kris Pastor

Haley Johnson

Zachary Buse

Cheyenne Eastham

Amy Keiser

Support Samantha’s Lupus & Mental Health Recovery Journey

Support Samantha’s Lupus & Mental Health Recovery Journey

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