The Tribune

By Riel Major

AFTER beating cancer 12 years ago, Sharnette Thompson-McKinney is fighting a new battle after being diagnosed with lupus.

The 47-year-old mother-of-two cannot afford her treatment – Rituximab – a biologic agent used to treat the most serious features of lupus when other therapies are ineffective.

In November 2006, Ms Thompson-McKinney was diagnosed with stage three cancer but beat the illness. Unfortunately, in January 2015, she was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus.

She now needs $62,800 to cover her medical expenses and has started a GoFundMe page for donations.

Despite the lupus diagnosis, Ms Thompson-McKinney isn’t giving up.

She said: “Dealing with the cancer was rough in the beginning because at one point I wanted to die and I had to get a grip really quick and realise that I had something to live for - I had two beautiful children that were minors. I didn’t want to leave them behind so I had to muster up every bit of strength that I had to live. I decided I had to fight and I know it wasn’t going to be easy but I survived. I had multiple surgeries, one issue after the other, but I survived. “When I was diagnosed with lupus… we had no idea what was going on, my body was just attacking itself. The doctors had no clue as to what was going on and (I) was doing a lot of tests. My body would just swell, I would have chronic pain, my hair was thinning out. Lupus was really hard to detect and finally when I was diagnosed they told me it has no cure. That was another thing, you just beat cancer, in remission, now there is lupus and there is no cure. I didn’t take it seriously at first but as time progressed it got worse so they told me that the lupus is aggressive.

“It affects everyone differently, for me I ended up with skin lesions, body swelling and I look totally different from how I used to look – to me it’s almost disfiguring. I just want people to know that (you) don’t give up. I always tell myself, what strengthens me is this, you know what - I’m special. I’m so special to God that He gave this to me because He knows I can handle it. Sounds crazy but that’s mysterious strength… God knows I can handle this so I’m handling it.

“I’m fighting everyday for life and He’s my strength and I’m special. Don’t give up no matter how hard it gets; don’t give up.”

Anyone interested in contributing to Sharnette’s treatment can visit https://www.gofundme.com/sharnette039s-medical-fund. The page had raised more than $1,000 up to press time.