16/07/2026
A little update from Rae 🩷
Hello lovelies, first of all I just want to say a huge THANK YOU for your patience and understanding over the past few weeks.
I’ve received a lot of messages and questions and just wanted to inform you all collectively on what’s been happening 🫶🏻
In 2022 I became really unwell. I was struggling to speak and breathe properly and noticed changes in my vision and my mobility. I was in agony, everything just ached and hurt and I was admitted to hospital. After a LOT of tests and consultations I was diagnosed with Lupus SLE.
Lupus is basically your immune system getting a bit confused. Instead of just fighting off germs, it can start attacking healthy parts of your own body too. It can affect your joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain… pretty much anywhere, which is why it looks different for everyone.
The biggest thing with lupus is something called a flare.
That’s when symptoms suddenly get worse. Some days you can feel completely fine, and then out of nowhere it can feel like you’ve been hit by a bus. As a mum and a business owner this is the hardest part for me! Singing away on Monday without a care in the world, and Tuesday I can’t get out of bed.
Lupus affects me in huge ways
* Extreme tiredness that sleep doesn’t fix.
* Achy, swollen joints.
* Brain fog (walking into a room and forgetting why you’re there… mum brain but on another level!).
* Rashes, especially across my cheeks and nose.
* Hair loss.
* Fevers and feeling generally unwell.
The risks are that, if lupus isn’t well managed, it can damage important organs like your kidneys, heart or lungs. It can also make you more likely to get infections, partly because of the condition itself and partly because some of the medicines used to treat it lower your immune system.
This is what happened to me over the past 6 months. Relentlessly working, being a mum of 3 and being under stress has resulted in my kidneys especially being dangerously affected.
Earlier this year things got worse. During routine MRI scans lesions on my brain and spinal cord were noticed. I was referred to neurology and a second condition of MS was diagnosed. (Continued in comments)