Photography: Felecia Causey
Hi. My name is Darial Smith. I guess my lupus would start the summer of 2014. I remember it just like it was yesterday. I was at cheer camp with my high school squad. We were on the campus of Auburn University going to the campus shop to get a snack before bed. When suddenly both of my knees went completely out. I fell and my teammates helped me get back to the dorm where we were staying for camp. When I returned home to Montgomery my mom decided that we needed to see a doctor. The first doctor told us my joints were aching because of cheer and that I was a natural growing teenager whose bones are growing faster than my body. At that point me and my mom decided to get a second opinion. The blood work was sent off by my old pediatrician and the results came back that I had been diagnosed with Lupus and Crippling Arthritis and they wanted to start chemotherapy immediately. For a moment, my world stopped, and I could see my mom get weak, my dad is full of anger, the doctor is trying to explain what everything is and all I can do is see him talking. Little did I know that my world was about to change. How can I explain to them the reason their captain is in so much pain and so many doctors’ visits if I barely know myself? At the next doctor visit I met my first kidney specialist. He disagrees with my lupus doctor because my lupus doctor wanted to start chemotherapy immediately, but my kidney specialist said NO! My kidney specialist wants to do a kidney biopsy first to make sure that is where the lupus is located and how badly they are infected. The lupus doctor and my kidney specialist finally came to an agreement and I started my first round of chemotherapy treatments. After treatments and daily medications, I did not have a flare until I found out that I was seven months pregnant with my first child in 2016. On April 9th, 2016 I gave birth to Madylehn Erial Duplessis. She changed my life. I had multiple flares about five to six months later. My flares lasted for about three months occurring every Monday or Tuesday like clockwork. Each visit was at least 4 days long. Then I was in remission for a while. During that time, I met the love of my life. We fit together like two puzzle pieces. In 2018 we found out that we were pregnant. In 2019 I gave birth to Kloey Skyy Epps. Everything with the pregnancy and birth went great! But just like the last pregnancy I flared after this one as well. Not as bad as the first pregnancy because my medications were already in place this go round.
I still had a bunch of hospital visits and stays for a couple of months. Now I have been flare free since my last hospital stay in the end of February where I spent a full week in the hospital due to my lupus and a low INR count. I have been home and now I’ve been feeling much better. This is the short version of my story! I am Darial Smith and I have Lupus, but Lupus does not have me!
