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The Ginger Launey DeSalvo Foundation for Lupus Research

The Ginger Launey DeSalvo Foundation for Lupus Research. The Foundation.

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The Ginger Launey DeSalvo Foundation for Lupus Research

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  1. The Ginger Launey DeSalvo Foundation for Lupus Research

  2. The Foundation Ginger’s Tomorrow Foundation was formed as a Kansas non-profit corporation on August 5, 2004 by the friends and family of Ginger DeSalvo to support research for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus and to educate the public regarding these autoimmune diseases.

  3. Amy Ellis Angela Greenberg Holly George Wendy Hills Jeannie Kincaid Meaghan Pavlovich Amy Hawley Rose Shelly Ross Founders of Ginger’s Tomorrow

  4. Ginger DeSalvo Ginger DeSalvo was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis age 28. Ginger then developed severe, chronic, drug-induced lupus, another form of arthritis. Lupus causes the immune system to become overactive, creating antibodies that attack healthy tissues in the body, including the skin, kidneys, lungs, heart and brain. Ginger had systemic lupus, which attacked all of her internal organs. In her fight against lupus, Ginger underwent three stem cell transplants in hopes of regenerating her immune system to put the lupus into remission. Each of these transplants failed. Ginger developed a serious infection in the lining of her brain that was difficult to fight because her immune system was basically non-existent. Ginger’s third stem cell transplant was working. However, when she underwent an operation to put a shunt in her brain to relieve some of the pressure from the infection an artery was cut and Ginger died of a brain hemorrhage.

  5. Treatments for Lupus • Lupus afflicts as many as one million Americans, 90% of whom are women. • Treatments for lupus include anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids and various chemotherapy drugs that suppress the immune system. • Stem cell transplants are still in the experimental stage as a treatment for lupus. • This treatment works on the principal that once the immune system slate is wiped clean, the body can re-learn how to defend itself properly again.

  6. Treatments for Lupus • With people with autoimmune disorders, such as lupus, the immune system attacks its own tissues and organs and must be re-taught to differentiate between the body’s own cells and foreign attackers. • In order to be a candidate for a stem cell transplant, a source of potentially healthy cells must be found and often comes from a suitable donor. • Even to be considered for stem cell transplants, the patient must have failed to benefit from all other conventional therapies. • Stem cells can be extracted from the bone marrow of living patients and from umbilical cords.

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