What cause would be worth any risk to me?

Theodore Roosevelt said, "No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause." What great cause would be worth any risk for you?

I am a passionate person, and one who has been an advocate for many social, environmental and health causes. I took a lot of time thinking about this post, because to be honest, I would risk very much for most of these causes that are near and dear to my heart. Settling on one was hard, especially because in a way it is self serving.

A cure for lupus would be worth any risk for me. Obviously I have a vested interest in finding a cure that has forever changed my life, but it's much much more than just about me. For those who don't really know what lupus is, it is an autoimmune disease in which your immune system no longer recognizes the difference between a foreign body and your own healthy tissue and organs. Therefore it begins to attack everything in your body. On the mild side of the disease, you basically feel like you're living with the flu every day of your life - aches and pains, swollen joints, indescribable fatigue, and discomfort. On the more severe side, the immune system attacks specific organs causing organ damage, failure and sometimes death. There is no cure, obviously, and oftentimes the medications are just as toxic and dangerous as the disease itself. There are actually only 4 medications approved by the FDA for the treatment of lupus, which makes managing and treating the disease very expensive.

What is most interesting (from a scientific standpoint) is that lupus is known as the great imitator. It mimics innumerable other diseases, making it difficult to diagnose. Additionally, because it attacks so many different symptoms in the body, solving lupus would unlock the key to the 100+ other autoimmune diseases out there from thyroid issues to rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. A cure for lupus will help not only the people like me living with this disease, but so many others. It would have a trickle effect that the medical community cannot even fathom.

I would risk anything to find a cure. For me, for my friends who have passed away from this disease, the ones who are struggling, and for those with other related diseases.

What risk would be worth anything to you?




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