Bedford Stuyvesant advocate, Camille Fanfair and Senator Kevin Parker hope that their proposed legislation will provide more resources for those diagnosed with lupus, reports News 12.
Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects a wide range of bodily functions, which can leave many in question. And according to the the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Black and Latino women are two to three times more likely than white women to develop the disease.
"I had three strokes, I had open heart surgery. I had pneumonia several times, so there were so many different things leading up to me being who I am now and how I stand," Camille Fanfair stated as a fierce lupus advocate and as an individual living with the disease.
"I got diagnosed 17 years ago. I was going through a series of my skin was swelling, feeling fatigued," Fanfair explained. "I went back and forth to the doctor who just didn't know what was going on... So it was like four years before I got diagnosed."
Fanfair's lupus has recently been manageable with little to none flare ups. She owes her recent progress to different healing modalities that she hopes to extend to others living with Lupus.
With the help of Senator Kevin Parker, who has been present for Fanfair's journey and has previously used his platform to lend support to autoimmune and blood disorder, legislation is now a possibility.
"The people who are getting lupus are primarily women of color," said Parker. "And when you're talking about African-American women, Latino women, the larger number and the largest concentration is right here in central Brooklyn, downstate that sits in the center of the county."
Parker hopes that proposed legislation will push the state to create an extensive lupus research enhancement and funding program to help New Yorkers with lupus.
"We believe doing this research will really bring light and education to people generally in our community," stated Senator Parker. "We need to narrow in on why that is the case and give more time, attention and research to this chronic problem."
