A Letter from the President I hope this email finds you well and safe. Depending on the day, spring feels like it's days or weeks away. The important fact is spring is almost here and that means Lupus Awareness Month and the Illinois Lupus Walks! Perhaps spring will be in full bloom in time for our Empowering Lupus Patient Educational event coming up on Saturday, April 15, 2023. For nearly 15 years, this event has provided information to help people with lupus live their best lives. This year's event includes presentation from Richard Mebane on Lupus and Exercise and LSI's Lupus Navigator Mari Gonzalez. The first presenter will be Dr. Irene Blanco who is presenting on Lupus, Pregnancy & Contraception. Like all of LSI's live events, we'll include time for the lupus community to meet and network. The Illinois Lupus Walks are open and ready for registration! We have two walks this year - the Western Suburbs Lupus Walk in Naperville on August 12th and the Chicago Lupus Walk & Fun Run in Lincoln Park on September 30th. These events are always fun and family-friendly, and with our 50th Anniversary year, we're working to make all of our events extra special! Join one of Lupus Walk committees and help plan these awesome events! Contact Lisa at 312-542-0002 or lisa@lupusil.org for more on joining a committee. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary all year and we are collecting memories, photos and congratulations! You can submit those on social media using #LSI50 or complete our form here. Thanks to Regina for sharing her memory-about her dad and our lupus walks- and photo - you can read Regina's memory below. There's so much going on in the lupus community and we hope you'll read all about it in this newsletter! In 50 years, we've come so far. Together, we've made a difference. Mary | 
