Ezranda Bodie may have lupus, but for the most part, she tries to live a normal life as if she doesn’t have the condition. She knows she will live with lupus for the rest of her life, but says managing the symptoms is paramount to her.

“I’m okay with talking about the condition, so it’s not something that I wish to hide. I have it, and I’m going to try my best to cope and manage it, deal with it, to live a long, healthy life. I’m not going to let lupus change me,” says Bodie.

The 25-year-old law student was diagnosed with the chronic autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs) on November 4, 2015. In lupus, something goes wrong with the immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs.

Bodie said she first started having symptoms in 2013-2014, and that it all began with her losing hair in the middle of her head. She had bleached her hair, and chalked up the hair loss to that procedure. But then the stomach pains started; an ultrasound revealed nothing. Her throat became inflamed. She had an adverse reaction to one of the two medications she was put on; her throat started to close up, and her jaw started to lock, and her muscles twisted to one side.

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