Florida Senate - 2019                            (NP)    SR 1872
       
       
        
       By Senator Stargel
       
       
       
       
       
       22-05232-19                                           20191872__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing May 2019 as “Lupus Awareness
    3         Month” in Florida.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly known as
    6  lupus, is an acute, chronic, and lifelong autoimmune disease
    7  which creates an imbalance in the immune system, causing
    8  inflammation and tissue damage to virtually every part of the
    9  body, including the skin, lungs, heart, kidneys, and brain, and
   10         WHEREAS, although the majority of cases of lupus can be
   11  controlled with proper treatment, the disease can cause
   12  seizures, strokes, heart attacks, miscarriages, and organ
   13  failure, and it results in the deaths of thousands of Americans
   14  each year, and
   15         WHEREAS, more than 5 million people worldwide, and more
   16  than 1.5 million people in the United States, are living with
   17  this chronic disease for which there is no cure, and
   18         WHEREAS, each year, more than 100,000 individuals are newly
   19  diagnosed with lupus, 90 percent of whom are women of
   20  childbearing age, with African-American, Latina, Hispanic,
   21  Native American, and Asian women being two to three times more
   22  likely to develop the disease, and
   23         WHEREAS, lupus can be particularly difficult to diagnose
   24  because its symptoms mimic those of many other diseases, and
   25  major gaps exist in understanding the causes of this disease,
   26  and
   27         WHEREAS, because lupus is difficult to diagnose, more than
   28  half of all people diagnosed with lupus suffer for 4 or more
   29  years and see three or more doctors before receiving an accurate
   30  diagnosis, and
   31         WHEREAS, the Lupus Foundation of America has declared May
   32  as “Lupus Awareness Month,” NOW, THEREFORE,
   33  
   34  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   35  
   36         That May 2019 is recognized as “Lupus Awareness Month” in
   37  Florida.