Occupation
Father/Handy Man/Artist/Poet
Risk Factor
Lupus
“I was diagnosed with Lupus recently but I think I’ve had it since I was really young. Lupus attacks your whole body. It attacks your heart, lungs, bones, skin, everything; and even as a kid I was in pain all the time but no one believed me. I didn’t have support from my family and when I did get diagnosed they treated me like I was contagious. Everything seems like it’s been stacked against me from the beginning. It’s not easy having lupus while being homeless but I always pushed through and I have a roof over my head now. The pandemic has affected everyone so hard, there’s so much sadness and separation. ‘United we stand, divided we fall’; and right now we’re divided so we’re falling. But no matter how much pain there is in the world, or how much pain I’m in physically, I smile at people. It brings me joy to see people happy. The ones who struggle the most are the ones who always strive to help people because we know what it’s like to be down. If I could say one thing to the world it would be that it’s important to smile at everyone because you never know what someone else is going through, that could be the day they were thinking about killing themselves and your smile changed their mind. A smile can save a life.”
