My brother lost the love of his life, Samantha, to lupus. Samantha was diagnosed in 2005 but lived a very full and active life until November 3, 2010 when she walked into Vancouver General Hospital with back pain and was admitted to ICU for complications with her kidneys.
Although we couldn’t know they would be her last, Sam spent the remainder of her days there with my brother and her family by her side and died quietly surrounded by her family and mine on February 6, 2011. I cannot describe what those three short months were like for Sammi and her family and especially for my brother Chico who spent every possible waking moment by his beloved’s side.
While we are still quite devastated by our loss, Samantha’s friends and family will participate in the Walk for Lupus 2011 to raise funds and shed light on lupus. In Sammi’s sweet memory, our walk is entitled, “Walk for Lupus. Live for Samantha.”
The following link provides more information about the walk. If you scroll down, you’ll see that Sam’s sisters Sabrina and Belinda and my brother Chico are among the top 10 fundraisers in Canada. Our team, Sammi’s Superstars is first in the teams category.
I share this with you to ask you to support our efforts and sponsor us – every single dollar counts. Sammi was only 32. Just last summer she was playing in an ultimate league. Weeks before she entered the hospital, she was coaching ice hockey. She was looking forward to the birth of her niece or nephew. She and my brother had plans to do more travelling. She never complained and had a ready smile for everyone she came across, even in the hospital. She and Chico told very few of their friends she was sick in hospital because they expected that she would recover and they could tell their friends together. None of us, Sam included, could know that she would lose her life so soon and so quickly.
Sponsor us as we shed light on lupus so others with lupus won’t suffer like our Samantha, and so people who loved her like me, my family, her friends and family and especially my brother, won’t have to go through unimaginable heartache and loss. Lupus kills. Send your energy and help us find a way to make it stop.
Support us as we walk in memory of our beloved Sammi.
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