Leslie Joy Davis Memorial

Leslie Joy Davis passed away on May 28, 2019, after a lifelong battle with lupus. Lupus is a terrifying & uncurable auto-immune disease that can attack every system within the body. The disease is commonly misunderstood by people and even doctors around the world which makes treatment a grueling period of uncertainty. Lupus is considered a pre-existing condition by many companies and because of this, Leslie did not have life insurance.

Leslie’s treatment consisted of a combination of chemotherapy, dialysis after kidney failure, multiple open-heart surgeries, cauterization to stop internal bleeding, and daily doses of too many pills to list. Her final emergency put her in hospital care since Christmas 2018 up until her final resting place today. She was discharged from the hospital to a rehabilitation center where she eventually passed out during dialysis treatment. She was rushed to an emergency center where she was observed to have over 100 lbs of unnecessary fluid in her that was not removed during her dialysis treatments at the rehab center. Leslie strongly fought as they attempted to remove the fluid, but her weakened heart from the lupus could not keep up. She passed from cardiac arrest at 9:45am.

You can view Leslie's obituary here. 

Her story needs to be shared not only in mourning but to educate and help any family affected by a lupus diagnosis. My family has endured through a lifetime of unhelpful doctor appointments, late night races to the ER, and countless stays in the ICU. If Leslie’s story is able to help at least one single family with lupus, I feel that she could save a life.



Leslie was born on December 27, 1959. She married Paul Davis as a young adult and was set to celebrate her 40th wedding anniversary next week. During her life she adopted three children from Latin America: Daniel from Colombia and Dylan & Elena, both are from Honduras. Merely days after going to the hospital stay last December, Leslie became a grandmother as Elena gave birth to young baby Easton. Leslie was able to see her new grandson at least one time before she was eventually moved into the ICU.

As her eldest son it cripples me to write to write this, but our family needs any and all the support we can get from anyone. The funds that we raise during this campaign will go towards funeral costs, plane tickets to fly family members for our ceremony back in our home state of Pennsylvania, and recurring medical costs from her treatment.  My mother was my artistic muse that loved to paint & gaze at anything that she saw to be beautiful. She never appeared as if she was suffering from something as horrid as lupus. Through her endless positivity, I nearly began to view her as being invincible. I was wrong.

I will love you Ma, always and forever.