At 23, Tiajuana Hernandez is a teacher, musician, and owns and runs three online businesses – quite an accomplishment for someone so young.
But not as impressive as her back story and the odds she has had to beat to get to where she is, and the struggles she knows are ahead to get where she wants to be.
In 2018 Hernandez was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) – the most common type of lupus, which affects many organs, especially the skin, joints and kidneys. Lupus occurs when the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs.
“I experience severe joint pains, fatigue, I lost my hair. Sometimes I get shortness of breath and chest pains, swollen ankles if I stand too long, brain fog and headaches. Before, when I had flares, I’d get rash mainly on my face, hands and feet. It got so bad that at one point I had open sores,” Hernandez told WMN.
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