Tippy Valley Students Organize Walk For LupusAKRON - When the Student Advisory Committee at Tippecanoe Valley High School was challenged to do community service projects, junior Mikayla Wireman wanted to something that could become an annual event.
Her thoughts took her to her friend's mom, Amy Reed, and her battle with Lupus. Having just been involved in the Light the Night for cancer, Wireman decided to start a walk for Lupus.
According to the website for the Lupus Foundation of America, Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body. In Lupus, something goes wrong with a person's immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria and germs. Normally the immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Autoimmune means a person's immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and their body's healthy tissues and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain and damage in various parts of the body.
Wireman said she started working on the walk for Lupus two to three weeks ago while working on Light the Night. Her friends, juniors Hayleigh Danner and Staci Groom, have been helping her organize the walk.
The walk is scheduled for Oct. 23. Registration starts at 10 a.m., with the walk starting at 11 a.m. Beginning at the Bell Memorial Public Library in Mentone, the walk will be about a mile to the park and back.
All the proceeds from the walk will go to the Lupus Foundation of America in the Reed family's name.
Donation boxes have been placed in businesses around Akron and Mentone. T-shirts can be pre-ordered for $10 at the high school, or on the day of the walk while supplies last. The shirts will be pre-ordered Friday.
Wireman said the shirts have a cool design on them. The shirts read "First Annual Lupus Walk" with the date of the walk on the bottom.
"We've already raised $440," said Wireman.
While any amount raised will help find a cure for the disease, Wireman said her original goal was $1,000.
"Lupus is not a very well-known disease. They are starting to find more and more people with it because now they know the symptoms. It can be deadly," Wireman said. "That's why we are working to find a cure."
The Lupus Foundation of America website is at www.lupus.org/newsite/index.html
