News Photo by Steve Schulwitz The inaugural Walk to End Lupus took place in Alpena Sunday, as a group of about 30 people gathered to walk one-mile to support those who suffer from the autoimmune disease and to help educate the public about it. Event organizer Rachel Quaine, who has had lupus for 17 years, said she intends to make the walk an annual event.

ALPENA — The Lupus Foundation of America estimates there are 1.5 million people in the United States that suffer from the autoimmune disease, which can have a dramatic impact on the health and livelihood of the people who are being treated for it.

On Sunday more than 30 people came together in Alpena for the inaugural Walk to End Lupus, which was hosted not only to help collect funds to help find a cure for the disease, but to educate those who have never heard of the sickness and support those who overcome the challenges associated with it.

Event organizer Rachel Quaine, of Alpena, has lupus and had taken part in a walk in Nevada in the past. She said that experience prompted her to organize an event in Alpena where friends, relatives and other members of the community could gather, mingle and and share their stories about the disease.

The group then walked from Bay View Park to Thomson’s Park and back with purple lei around around the necks, while some carried colorful pinwheels that were spinning in the breeze and signs of support, which were held proudly in the air.

“I knew Lupus Awareness Month was in May and I decided that we should have a walk in Alpena, like so many other cities are doing,” Quaine said. “I just thought it was important to my hometown.”

Lupus is a complicated and unpredictable disease and people who are diagnosed with it don’t know when symptoms will strike or how long a flare could last.

A few of the symptoms include extreme fatigue, which doesn’t go away with rest, joint pain, stiffness and swelling in two or more joints, fever, muscle pain, hair loss, skin sores and rashes, nose or mouth sores and more severe skin rashes after sun exposure.

“It can affect any organ in the body, it can cause kidney failure, it can attack your brain, cause seizures, blood clots and also your eyes,” she said. “It can impact everything a person does in their life from work to just daily life as a whole.”

Depending on the severity of the disease it is often treated with immunosuppressant drugs, which are a class of drugs that suppress or reduce, the strength of the body’s immune system. With an autoimmune disease, the immune system attacks the body’s own tissue. Because immunosuppressant drugs weaken the immune system, they suppress this reaction. This helps reduce the impact of the autoimmune disease on the body.

At the halfway point of the walk the group stopped and posed for a group photo at Thomson Park in front of the beach. It also gave the dogs who walked with their owners an opportunity to take a swim and fetch sticks that were tossed into the lake from those onshore.

Quaine said she is pleased with how the event turned out and believes as word about it spreads it can grow in the future.

“I think for being a first time event in Alpena we had a great turnout,” Quaine said. “We have friends, family, co-workers and other loved ones all here for the cause. We have people I have never even met come here from Rogers City to support this and that is awesome. This is something I want to have every year now.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpeanews.com.