Leslie's fight began in 2018.
Grad school
While earning her graduate degree at Rutgers, Leslie unknowingly contracted Lyme disease during required fieldwork. One tick bite changed everything.
Five years
She moved back to Texas to start work as a petrophysicist. There, the Lyme went unconsidered for five years. It barely registers in the state, and no one thought to look for it.
The turn
Once the Lyme was finally diagnosed and treated, her immune system (switched on at last) turned on her instead. Lupus.
18 months
Doctor after doctor. Test after test. A year in, the working theory was ankylosing spondylitis, until imaging ruled it out. Lupus is far more common in women of color, so it’s rarely the first guess for a white woman. The average diagnosis takes six years on its own.
