Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriana Gonzalez.
Hi Adriana, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Adriana Gonzalez I’m 36-year-old, mom and wife. I have a passion for cooking, baking, fashion, and advocacy. My journey with advocacy and sharing my life experiences started in 2017. Although, my journey with chronic illness (Lupus) began on February 1999 at the young age of 13. For those of you reading this and have never heard of lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease where our bodies own antibodies recognize our bodies as foreign and attack it. Lupus can attack the heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach, brain, and cause extreme pain, fatigue, rashes, fevers, and arthritis. In my personal journey, it has attacked my kidneys and I’ve been living with chronic kidney disease for over 20 years. Over the years I have had several hospitalizations, chemotherapy, multiple surgeries, daily medications, endless procedures, and tests. Living with Lupus can alter your life in many ways, it can be extremely difficult and isolating. So, looking for a chance to really feel understood and have a sense of community I turned to social media, specifically Instagram. I began using it as a tool to share the blessings and struggles that come with this journey. My number one goal is for people to really understand chronic illness by sharing my journey. If even just one person learns about lupus or one person feels a little less alone then it’s worth it!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Living with lupus has brought many difficult moments in my life, sometimes feeling like I wasn’t going to be able to overcome. Looking back my journey to motherhood was my biggest challenge and ultimately one of my biggest successes. Raising a good little human is extremely difficult and important to me. So having so many setbacks with my illness and still being the parent, I want to be is definitely something I’m so proud of. I’d also like to convey that living with chronic illness not just lupus tends to make everything much more difficult. There are moments in my life that even the most mundane daily tasks are extremely difficult and take every bit of my effort. Mentally it can be very disappointing and a feeling of not being good enough. But along with the difficult moments it brings many lessons of life. I’ve learned to live my life in the moment and with intense intention. I appreciate every single moment I get to enjoy moments of health and the beautiful memories I create because it. So often we go through life waiting for the next moment instead really just enjoying the moment we’re in.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I consider myself to be an advocate and chronic illness influencer. Lupus is still a relatively unknown illness and creating awareness and informing others what living with it entails is very important to me. My moments of pride come when given the opportunity to participate in awareness campaigns. Along with fundraising and donating to my favorite organization, The Lupus Research Alliance.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
My hope for myself and the Lupus community in the coming years is that we are closer to finding a cure. I believe in the power of awareness and more awareness brings more funding for research. I’d also love to see a shift and see more inclusivity for those of us in the disability community. Platforms like this and social media are great tools, my hope is that the reach only broadens.
Contact Info:
- Email: nanas19mail@yahoo.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/lupiemomlife?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/supacooladri?t=yJ59U9GIY9UfgtBJIT-Q&s=09
