YEAH KENDRA! Our very own cure4lupus organizer has put together a walk in Iowa and had an article written about it below! YOU GO GIRL! hugs,
Jayne
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Kendra Isola, 29, of Urbandale helped organize the Iowa Walk for Lupus Now, scheduled for today at Gray's Lake. The goal is to raise $40,000 for lupus research. Isola has dealt with depression related to lupus, a disease affecting the immune system. Get involved
WHEN: The first Iowa Walk for Lupus Now is from 9 a.m. to noon today at Gray's Lake, 1400 Fleur Drive in Des Moines.
COST: There is no cost to walk but donations will be accepted. Donors who give $50 or more will receive a T-shirt.
DETAILS: Organizers with the Iowa chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America hope the event can be an annual one. For more information, go to lupusia.walk.kintera.org.

Woman fights lupus, sets up fundraiser 

She says her role in today's walk gives her purpose



By GUNNAR OLSON
REGISTER STAFF WRITER


It took two years of deep depression and a move home to Iowa before Kendra Isola figured out who she was.

She was never going to be the mother and business owner she struggled to become while living in Florida. Lupus - which turns the immune system against its own body, attacking its healthy cells - had rendered her physically unable. Her joints hurt so badly that getting through the day felt like running a marathon.

"I had this image of myself of who I should be - healthy, strong, working hard," she said. "And I couldn't reconcile that I wasn't that person. I didn't like who I was."

Two years after moving back to the Des Moines area for better health care and to be closer to her family, Isola is excited about her new life as an advocate for fighting lupus.

Isola, now 29, is one of the organizers of the first Iowa Walk for Lupus Now, to be held from 9 a.m. to noon today at Gray's Lake in Des Moines.

Organizers with the Iowa chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America are aiming to raise $40,000 for research for a cure to lupus. They hope the event will be an annual one.

An estimated 1.5 million Americans live with some form of lupus, which is difficult to diagnose and sometimes fatal, according to the Lupus Foundation of America.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has not approved a new drug to treat lupus specifically in 30 years, according to the foundation.

"We have so much hope on the horizon," Isola said. "We can have a cure - or at least better treatment - soon."

Sara Webster, a Sheldahl resident who also has lupus, said she quickly came to admire Isola while working with her to organize the lupus walk.

"Her life has gone in a different direction," she said. "Her life has changed and she's accepted it and she's doing it for the greater good."

It was in Florida about four years ago that Isola had nearly built the life she always wanted. She was recently married, was starting a career selling real estate, and was looking forward to raising a family.

Having lupus was something she just dealt with - she had done that since first showing symptoms at 13.

Then she started missing meetings with clients and quit her job. She learned she couldn't have kids.

Isola fell into a depression that would last two years. She stayed at home and watched 12 or more hours of television every day, sleeping the rest of the time, always exhausted.

Her husband was supportive, but her state wore on him visibly, and that depressed her further. They spent thousands on her medications.

They evacuated their home for Hurricane Wilma in 2005, and she made up her mind then that she wouldn't return.

Sitting in the Urbandale duplex she now shares with her husband and father, Isola recalled her slow ascent from depression once she arrived in Iowa two years ago. She said she still spends a lot of time sleeping and in front of the TV.

Being around family helped, she said, but it was launching a Web site, www.cure4lupus.org, that ultimately pulled her out of depression. Sharing her story, letting others with lupus know they are not alone, has given her purpose.

Six months after launching her site, she created a page on MySpace.com, the social networking site, and within weeks she started receiving e-mails by the hundreds from people like her. "Once I found this way to reach out to people and make a real different, I started liking who I was becoming," she said.

Reporter Gunnar Olson can be reached at (515) 284-8039 or golson@dmreg.com