Providing Answers, Support and Hope in Georgia

Thirty-One Faces of Hope: We Remember Monic Thornton

Monic Thornton led our Thirty-One Faces of Hope initiative since 2019, encouraging so many of  you to tell your story each and every year.  It is with deep sadness we share that Monic lost her battle with lupus on April 24,  2024.  Three days later, her husband Anthony Thornton spoke at our Atlanta walk and shared why telling YOUR STORY is SO important. 

On that day, Anthony wrote on his Facebook page,  

“Today My Entire Life Changed. To call Monic Thornton just my wife would be a disservice. 15 yrs together seemed like ONE DAY.  She was my best friend, wife, and my entire world. Our relationship was absolutely perfect. Full of life, passion, purpose and marital bliss. Heaven on Earth. True Love Personified. She passed away today fighting a 29 year battle with LUPUS 911. The toughest person I ever met. She turned her disease into a national platform becoming a #1 Best Selling Author, National Ambassador for the Lupus Foundation, Keynote Speaker and Advocate on the State and Federal Levels increasing awareness to this horrible disease.” 

This evening, Anthony and his family will celebrate her life. Click here for details. Monic, we love you, you will be missed by our community.  We vow to keep the momentum Monic created going in her memory!

Monic Thornton

My name is Monic, and I’ve been living with two types of lupus (SLE & Discoid) for over two decades now. It was 1994 and I was pregnant with my daughter Kierah. I received a call from the nurse asking me to come into the office to discuss my blood test results.

As I waited in the office, I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack as I held on to my stomach hoping the results wouldn’t cause harm to my unborn child. The doctor addressed the findings of my bloodwork. At the time, I was so unfamiliar with the disease that I had no idea how to react. As the seriousness of lupus was explained to me, my shock turned to fear. The doctor further explained that due to lupus, my pregnancy will be considered high-risk, I had to be extremely careful, and I would not be able to breastfeed because I had to start a handful of medications.

I had no painful symptoms during the early stages of lupus. It wasn’t until months after I had my daughter when I experienced the first horrific pain caused by a lupus flare up. My daughter was a newborn, and we were home alone at the time when my sleep was disturbed by excruciating pain in my body. I attempted to get out of bed to prepare my daughter’s food but was unable to move because of the stiffness in my body. I finally managed to get out of bed and walked slowly to the kitchen, using the wall as a clutch to keep my balance. I was unable to open my daughter’s bottle because the joints in my fingers were so stiff and swollen that I could not move them at all. I wasn’t able to even make a fist with my hand. I was powerless and at a standstill. After I exhausted myself with multiple tries, I eventually called a friend for help. I was very distraught and mentally overwhelmed. I was supposed to take care of my baby, but I was in too much pain and could not physically move.

When I moved to Atlanta in the fall of 2000, I met a woman, who we grew to be very close friends. She was with me during many hospital visits and witnessed many of the battles I experienced with lupus. She had never heard of this disease but learned very quickly how dangerous it can be. After years of friendship, she was suddenly faced with a life-changing event as she became aggressively sick without warning. Her illness started from a cold to a virus, then on to unexplained sickness which led to many misdiagnoses. Eventually, after countless visits to various doctors and specialists, my friend was finally diagnosed accurately with lupus. Unlike me, after the diagnosis of lupus, her physical and mental health turned for the worse. Once she was diagnosed, lupus progressed to a life-threatening level almost immediately. She consistently had attacks that kept her in the hospital for months at a time. After her final hospital stay, she was released while still in an incredible amount of pain and hanging on for her dear life. At this point the lupus had taken complete control of her immune system. It was so hard for her to walk and talk, that one night she tried to crawl to her daughter’s room to get help. The exertion was too great, her condition had progressed too far, and she slipped into a coma shortly thereafter. Days later the doctor said there was nothing more they could do. She had brain damage and her immune system had shut down almost completely. Lupus took my dear friend shortly after her diagnosis. She didn’t have a chance to transition from a victim to a survivor. She had no defenses because she didn’t have sufficient time to study lupus thoroughly to protect herself against further damage. Instead, the disease took hold and didn’t let go.

I’ve experienced just about every known symptom of lupus and had over 10 surgeries. The difference now, is that I’m very familiar with the disease so I am able to manage it better. However, lupus is unpredictable. One minute you feel fine, and the next minute you are sick to the point where you end up in the hospital. This is why we called lupus the unpredictable disease. On the outside one may look fine, but inside we are dealing with pain and all the agony that lupus causes. This is why I advocate for lupus and am dedicated to raising the awareness about the seriousness of lupus.

- Monic Thornton