WELDON, Calif. (KERO) — Lupus is a disease that's not easy to understand. The symptoms vary and it impacts those who get it in different ways. For one local mother it changed the course of her entire life.
- Jolene Gaudsmith, a Weldon resident who has five children, told me she thought she lived a healthy lifestyle when she was diagnosed with lupus in 2016, a disease where the body’s immune system starts attacking its own healthy cells and tissues.
- According to The Lupus Foundation of America roughly 1.5 million Americans have Lupus.
- Ninety percent of people living with lupus are women and most people develop the disease between the ages of 15-44.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“The pain from Lupus is like no other pain, I have a high tolerance for pain, but with Lupus, if you even touch my skin, I can’t even handle it, it is so painful,” said Jolene Gaudsmith, a Weldon resident and mother of five who was diagnosed with lupus in 2016.
Lupus is a disease where the body’s immune system starts attacking its healthy cells and tissues. For Gaudsmith, it targeted her kidneys.
“All of the sudden my kidneys started failing when I thought I was doing all of the right things. It got so bad I was on my deathbed, and we didn’t think I was going to make it.”
There’s no single treatment for lupus. For the next year Gaudsmith underwent chemotherapy and regular dialysis.
“I could barely walk,” said Gaudsmith, “It was tough on my family, I could barely work, I had zero income.”
That was when Gaudsmith first applied for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or “Disability".
She was denied.
After a year of treatment, her lupus went into remission.
Although lupus is incurable - remission means she no longer experienced symptoms.
In 2022, it flared up again – now she’s back on dialysis, which she has to go to twice a week.
“Just having doctors appointments and dialysis it’s like my full-time job now.”
She has to drive at least 60 miles for her doctors appointments, sometimes going all the way to Los Angeles.
Gaudsmith says she still spends quality time with her children, especially the two youngest... like when she takes them to see a neighborhood celebrity.
“How are you doing, Fabio?” Gaudsmith's daughter said.
She takes her children to go see local legend, Fabio, a bull that people are welcome to visit and feed apples and carrots.
Being in the sun too long could cause a flare of her symptoms – which are wide ranging.
“It could put you down, and you really can't do anything about it, you can’t function at all.”
She has not been successful when applying for Disability.
“It’s been a rough go, I've been denied, I've restarted over and over.”
When she calls about why she is being denied - she gets the same answer –
“No available appointments at this time.”
She told me she doesn't always have the money needed for gas to get to her appointments and credits her family for helping support her.
“I really miss work, I really wish I could go back to work.”
Lupus has now permanently damaged her kidneys and she hopes to get a transplant, but that can take years.
“Because of my blood type, I am supposed to be waiting nine years – I don’t have nine years.”
She takes it day by day, enjoying her time with her kids.
“I'm just trying to hang in there the best I can. Every day is a battle, every day I try to survive and I'm just doing the best I can. I don't even know what kind of help I can get, but I am trying my hardest.”
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