Florida Senate - 2014                            (NP)    SR 1732
       
       
        
       By Senator Benacquisto
       
       
       
       
       
       30-02429-14                                           20141732__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing May 2014 as “Lupus Awareness
    3         Month” in Florida.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, each year, the Lupus Foundation of America
    6  designates May as National Lupus Awareness Month to show support
    7  for the estimated 1.5 million Americans who have lupus,
    8  including an estimated 100,000 Floridians, and
    9         WHEREAS, lupus is a cruel and mysterious chronic autoimmune
   10  disease in which the immune system is unbalanced, causing
   11  inflammation and tissue damage to virtually every organ system
   12  in the body, and
   13         WHEREAS, lupus can affect any part of the body, including
   14  the skin, lungs, heart, kidneys, and brain, and no organ is
   15  spared by the disease, which can cause seizures, strokes, heart
   16  attacks, miscarriages, and organ failure, and
   17         WHEREAS, while lupus strikes mostly women of childbearing
   18  age, no one is safe from lupus, with African Americans,
   19  Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans two to three times more
   20  likely to develop lupus, a disparity that remains unexplained,
   21  and
   22         WHEREAS, lupus can be particularly difficult to diagnose
   23  because its symptoms are similar to those of many other
   24  illnesses, and major gaps exist in understanding the causes and
   25  consequences of lupus, and
   26         WHEREAS, it takes 4 or more years and three or more doctor
   27  visits before more than half of all people with lupus obtain a
   28  correct diagnosis, and
   29         WHEREAS, only one new drug has been approved by the U.S.
   30  Food and Drug Administration specifically for lupus in more than
   31  50 years, and current treatments for the disease can have
   32  damaging side effects, NOW, THEREFORE,
   33  
   34  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   35  
   36         That May 2014 is recognized as “Lupus Awareness Month” in
   37  Florida.