My name is Salina Coleman, I am 33 years old. I was diagnosed with Lupus in October of 1996. Since my diagnosis, Lupus had took a tremendous toll on my life. I was in denial and I was devastated. I started to develop some troubling symptoms of Lupus, which included; shortness of breathe, severe  joint pain, loss of hair, sensitivity of bright light, fingertips turning yellow and blue, and swollen joints. These symptoms got more chronic as the Lupus progressed. I had to start seeing a Rheumatologist, who specializes in treating people with Lupus. I had to start taking all kinds of medications, one of them is called prednisone.  Since being diagnosed with Lupus I had to get on disability because I was so sick all the time. I was always in and out of the hospital. Because of Lupus I had some of the most severe and life threatening incidents. I had to get a pericardia effusion due to fluid around my lungs and heart, I was in intensive care for almost 4 months. Then I had to get 3 months of rehabilitation to get my motor skills back. I was like a human vegetable. I had to learn how to walk and talk again. The next incident was when I developed a blood clot in my right leg. I had to get a bypass done. The bypass got infected, which led to further complications. I had to get a second bypass done on the same leg. This time they had to take a veins out of my left leg and put them in my right leg. Leaving me with open wounds, that was painful and excruciating. I didn't know that the infection led to me having poor blood circulation in my feet and hands. A few of my toes and fingertips started to loose blood flow. Eventually the turned black and fell off. I was being treated by a vascular doctor. I became wheel chair bound at that point. I was put in a nursing home, so that I could get 24 hour care. I was the youngest person in the nursing home. Once again I was nurtured back to walking again. I went back into the hospital because of a relapse from the lupus. I went into cardiac arrest because fluid was suffocating my passage way. I had to get a tracheotomy. I fell into a comma which lasted for 3 months. The doctors though That I wouldn't make it. Thanks to my family, friends and church family who all prayed for me none stop, with the grace and love of God; I came out of the comma. I had to remain hospitalize for 6 months. I had all sorts of tubes running through my body, I had to get a PC filter put in my back so that the blood can flow properly through my body. The doctors say that I am a lucky young lady because my blood turned black. They had to pump all that bad blood out of my body and replace it with clean blood. Not knowing if my body would react well to the new blood. I was considered dead at one point and time. I survived that incident. The next incident occurred when the bypass I had got earlier that got infected had turned into gangrene. Nobody told me that was the reason for my blood turning black and me loosing my limbs. I went through torture. The final incident was that the gangrene was spreading in my right leg. The only alternative was for them to amputate my right leg, above the knee. Now I'm a amputee. My life has change dramatically while suffering with Lupus. Systemic Lupus. I used to teach kids, I love to sing and dance, I am very artistic and talented. I love to write songs and poetry and play sports, mostly basketball. Now all of that has ceased. I can't do most of the things that I used to do. At first I was depressed, angry overwhelmed, frustrated, exhausted and terrorized. I loss weight, developed insomnia because I was scared to sleep, being afraid that I would die. I felt worthless and had low self-esteem. Now I'm much stronger, I'm a strong believer in God. My self-esteem level has the sky rocketed. I'm writing sons and poetry again, I sleep more better at night and I'm stronger than before. I only have one leg but I have a prosthetic leg now. People look at me now and they can't believe that I'm the same person they knew when I was sick with Lupus. Thank God for my recovery, health and strength. I want to be a spokes person for people who have Lupus. Letting them know that they are not alone in this battle. Just because there isn't a cure for this disease, doesn't mean that we can't beat it. I wrote a song base on my experience with Lupus it's called "He Saved Me".