Butterfly Walk August 10...press release

July 17, 2008 Media contact: Laura Drouillard
E-mail: ljdrou@umich.edu
Phone: 734-764-2220
Butterfly walk to raise funds for lupus research

Aug. 10 family event will benefit Amster Lupus Research Fund
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Learn more:
Amster Lupus Butterfly Walk
July 17, 2008 Media contact: Laura Drouillard
E-mail: ljdrou@umich.edu
Phone: 734-764-2220
Butterfly walk to raise funds for lupus research


ANN ARBOR, MI — Just 11 years after her mother had died from complications related to lupus, Angela Madaras received a diagnosis of the same disease. She was only a senior in high school at the time. After being rushed to a North Carolina hospital for a life-threatening episode involving kidney failure, hepatitis, seizures, pneumonia and vasculitis that put her in a coma for a week, she decided to come to the University of Michigan Health System for treatment.

Twenty-three years after her initial diagnosis, Madaras now resides in Ann Arbor, where she participates in research studies at U-M’s Lupus Clinic. While she still experiences symptoms of lupus and the long-term effects of treatments, Madaras says that the care she has received from U-M has given her the strength to give back to others who have been affected by the disease; she has made it her personal mission to contribute to the search for a cure.

“It has been 50 years since the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] approved a new treatment specifically for lupus. By volunteering and participating in trials, research studies and advocating that Congress pass certain legislation, I see my experience as a way to change the future for others,” Madaras explains.

One way that Madaras feels she is making a difference is through her participation in the annual Amster Lupus Butterfly Walk. The event—which was created in 2002 by longtime friends Linda LeFevre, a lupus patient at U-M, and Renee McKay, who has a sister with lupus— donates all of its proceeds to the Amster Lupus Research Fund. The fund, started by Herbert and Carol Amster, financially supports clinical research for lupus. To date, this community event has raised more than $150,000.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that can affect every major organ system— including the kidneys, heart, brain, musculoskeletal, lungs and skin— among males and females of all ages and ethnic origins. Because lupus is an autoimmune disorder, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissue and organs. Today, lupus affects more than one million people in the United States— including more than 9,000 people in Michigan alone. The exact cause of lupus is not known, and a cure has not been found.

The two-mile Amster Lupus Butterfly Walk will be held on Sunday, Aug. 10 at Civic Center Park, on Hall Road in Woodhaven in Wayne County. Registration begins at 10 a.m., and the walk will start at 11:30 a.m., rain or shine. A pancake breakfast will be held during the registration time. Registration is $15 per person or $50 for a team of four members. Team Sponsorship and Corporate Sponsorship opportunities are available until Aug. 5.

For more information about lupus, event registration or how to donate, call (734) 671-2367 or (248) 582-2727, e-mail butterflies@wowway.com or visit www.amsterlupus.org.

To learn more about the Lupus Program at U-M, please visit:
http://www.med.umich.edu/lupus/index.htm

To make a contribution:
Please mail your contributions (checks payable to the University of Michigan with “Amster Lupus Butterfly Walk” in memo line) to:

National City Bank
Re: Routing #RJ2SC9
400 West Fourth Street
Royal Oak, MI 48067
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