The Centre for Personalised Immunology Tackles Lupus
Laura Campbell, photo credit = Rory Gillen
"The mental real estate required to manage and maintain a chronic illness is incredibly high.”
October is Lupus Awareness Month in Australia.
At the age of 18, after a sunny week outdoors celebrating the end of year 12, Laura Campbell suddenly became very ill and was hospitalised. Initially doctors thought she had contracted the Ross River virus. Her condition worsened, and doctors revised the diagnosis to pneumonia. Unable to keep up with the fluid collecting in her chest and lungs, and mystified by other symptoms, they intubated her and sent her by air ambulance to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. There, blood tests finally revealed the clues that led to the correct diagnosis, and to treatment that saved her life: Laura had lupus. It took her two months in the hospital to wean off of supplemental oxygen and learn to walk again. Read more about The Centre for Personalised Immunology Tackles Lupus