...  by Lea Wade: I NEED SOMEONE/ANYONE’S HELP…? Hey My Name is Lea. I’m 17 going to be 18 on April 12th. I’ve never done this before and I hate to complain but way past desperate… I was recently diagnosed with a disease called Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or (SLE). It’s an autoimmune disease, where your immune system attacks itself and eventually kills your organs one by one. I have already lost all my long curly blonde hair, which for a 17 year old girl is horrifying. I am now on treatment 3, I’ve tried Plaquenil, which 95% of patients respond but of course I’m the 5% who didn’t respond in a positive way.The SLE scale goes from 0-10, 0=in remission, and 10 equals horrible flare up. before i started the first treatment I was a 6 on the SLE scale, 1 month after my Plaquenil ...  has a huge succsess rate! I couldn’t stop crying I was so happy, but then I found out it costs $ 35,000 a year, because SLE is a life long disease that means $ 35,000 a year for the rest of my life (if I could afford it, let alone the first treatment/year.) I’ve wanted to become an Interior Designer ever since I was 9 years old. I’m a junior/senior in highschool. I’m in between both grades because I had to leave public highschool and become homeschooled because my immune system isn’t working so I get sick to easily. But some good new is I got accecpted into the the ART INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA the college I’ve wanted since I was about 12 years old haha. So it’s either college or possibly this new treatment. Basically, a short fufilled life with an amazing education for Interior Design, or a long life that’s unfufilled with no college education, which kills me to be so harsh but that’s my reality. I can’t stand the ...