DETROIT – During Lupus Awareness Month, a Detroit church and a local community organization came together to celebrate the spirit of one woman whose faith has carried her through years of hardship.
Pleasant Grove’s congregation, alongside Top Ladies of Distinction, held a special Sunday program honoring Trudi N. Smith — a Detroit woman living with lupus — and raising awareness about the disease.
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Trudi first began showing symptoms of lupus in college in 2004. At the time, she didn’t think much of it. Her mother, Yolanda E. Smith, also has lupus. But the two cases turned out to be very different.
“Her symptoms were so much worse, so different than mine. So much more severe,” Yolanda said.
Over the years, Trudi’s condition brought increasingly difficult challenges. She battled a severe case of shingles that left her unable to walk. She later contracted COVID-19 and was placed on a ventilator. Since then, she has been unable to speak.
Still, Yolanda visits her daughter every day — and says she knows Trudi is still very much present.
“I know she’s in there because even yesterday when I went in to talk to her like I do every day, and she was looking — she kind of stretched her eyes and I said, ‘Trudi, are you getting ready to tell me something?’” Yolanda said.
Through it all, Yolanda says her family leans on faith — and holds doctors accountable to do their part, too.
“We’re praying, and I tell the doctors you do your part. I’m going to do mine and you just watch this miracle that’s going to happen for Trudi,” she said.
Pastor Dr. Louis Forsythe II says Trudi’s journey is a message for everyone in the congregation.
“Trudi is an example to all of us of how you navigate different health challenges. How do you maintain your faith, your dignity and not let that define your situation?” Forsythe said.
Yolanda said watching the community come together for her daughter was almost too much to put into words.
“It’s overwhelming. It’s just a sense of everyone coming together for my baby, and it’s really an experience that’s hard to describe,” Yolanda said.