Providing Answers, Support and Hope in Georgia

Thirty-One Faces of Hope: Stephanie Jerry

The lupus community includes people living with lupus, friends, family and supporters across Georgia. For Lupus Awareness Month, we would like to highlight some of our lupus heroes and champions. 

Stephanie Jerry

My name is Stephanie Jerry and I was first diagnosed with lupus when I was 18 years old. That was over 17 years ago and I have been through so much since. When I first started having symptoms I was experiencing hair loss and rashes on my scalp. It took 8 months before I finally got a diagnosis. I had been seen by many doctors, including a rheumatologist, who all thought I had some kind of skin condition. I was able to get an appointment with a dermatologist at the University of Miami Medical Center and he was hopeful that he knew what was going on with my body. He took a skin biopsy and said he would follow up with the results. He came back with a diagnosis of Lupus and I was super excited to have an answer to my issues. I also thought there was some magical pill that would cure my condition. By the time I got diagnosed I was experiencing joint pain, swelling everywhere, even on my face, rashes, stiffness and hair loss. 

I had never heard of Lupus so I didn’t know what to expect. I thought there was some magical pill that would get rid of it. In the last 17 years I have experience a lot of things including 2 kidney biopsies, 2 kidney failures, chemotherapy, pneumonia twice and shingles, which I had never heard of either and so much more. I advocate for lupus every change that I get because I know how vital it is for us to get to a cure. 

Stephanie J. ?