Alliance for Lupus Research Walk With Us to Cure Lupus 2012

 May is Lupus Awareness Month at the Metlife stadium today, the ALR is

celebrating 10 years with their annual New Jersey walk with

the NY Jets. The Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR) is a national voluntary health organization based in New York City that was founded in 1999 and is chaired by Robert Wood Johnson IV, He is a great-grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I (co-founder of Johnson & Johnson), and the owner of the New York Jets of the National Football League. ALR has committed millions of dollars to significant lupus research every year and holding nationwide lupus walks to secure additional funding, the ALR is proactively battling lupus. The mission of the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR ) is to find better treatments and ultimately prevent and cure systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus), a debilitating autoimmune disease, by supporting medical research. lupus in the United States has been estimated to be as many as 1.5 million. Lupus can affect anyone, including children,men and women during the childbearing ages 14-44. Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can affect the joints and major organ in the body, including the heart, kidneys, skin, lungs, and brain. A person’s risk of developing lupus appears to be determined by genetic (hereditary) factors. Lupus can onset by triggers of the environment such as infection, sunlight, or stress. In autoimmune disorders such as lupus, the immune system, which is designed to protect against infection, mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissues and organs.  Nine out of ten people who have lupus are women, and the disease usually strikes during the childbearing years. Lupus is three times more common in African-American women than in Caucasian women and is also more prevalent in women of Latino, Asian, and Native American descent. There has not been a new therapy specifically designed to treat lupus in nearly 50 years. But due to the the dedication of the ALR finally a new drug have been approved by the FDAto treat lupus called BENLYSTA. This is very exciting, long-awaited news for those touched by lupus, and an important milestone for BENLYSTA in the drug development process. Over 5,000 people came out to walk for a cure from children and adults, local teams, and celebrities, including Brenda Blackmon Celebrity Chairman and various players from the NY Jets including Coach Rex Ryan and Mike Tannenbaum General Manager. Also in attendances were the corporate sponsor’s such as Wells Fargo,Barnabas Health, Investors savings bank etc.

There was many activities for children to play with while their parents walked. Supporters began the walk at 10 am, walking 5k (3.1 miles) and raising a total of $$470,127.63 as of today. Judith N Mills captain of the butterfly

walkers team, committee chair member and key volunteer of the ALR have been battling the illness for 11 years and have been very active in spreading lupus awareness as an advocate by telling others her story in America and Africa with her NGO Alliance of Hope for lupus in Ghana. “Lupus is worldwide problem and we need a cure and there is not enough education about the silent killer in third world counties so she took upon herself to educated them. she said thanks to the ALR we have new medicine on the markets and other in the final trial stages”. The ALR Board of Directors pays all operating expenses, 100% of all donations go directly to support research and donations are tax deductable . Support the search for a cure for lupus today. For more information on the organization, upcoming walks, or to donate, please

visit www.lupusresearch.org