Overcoming Lupus as a Child Jillian Cancela

I still remember the smell: hand sanitizer and plastic. The room looked gloomy being flooded with dim fluorescent lights. As I was waiting in the room for my mother and doctor to come back, I took a sip of my fruit punch in an attempt to stop myself from crying. My eyes began to water in anticipation for the news that the doctor was going to deliver. Ten feet in front of me through the cold hard door, I heard the doctor say four words - four words, that have no meaning on their own, would change my life forever.

“Your daughter has Lupus.”

It was just three months ago when I was sitting in a hospital bed (instead of sitting in a hard plastic chair for my last day of junior year) for the second time since I got diagnosed with Lupus. My kidneys were failing and it was either take more medication, or let the damage take over leaving me to soon need a transplant. Being only 17 and one day old at the time, I made the decision that will always play a major role in my life: never give up.

I have already been through five years of treatment, seven different medications, and a plethora of new symptoms that all came along with the illness that tends to linger around a majority of one’s life. Another hospital visit was not going to...