A WOMAN who suffers from a little-known condition is on a mission to raise awareness.

Chris McKenna, from Puddletown, suffers from Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus – a condition more common than leukaemia, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy but one many people have never heard of.

She was diagnosed with lupus in 2000 after suffering a catastrophic haemorrhage.

Chris, 55, said: “My world was turned upside down in an instant. I went from a fit flamenco dancing party girl who liked more than the odd sherbet or two, to a person that could hardly get out of bed some days.

“My first symptoms were swollen joints and feeling very unwell.

“This was put down to rheumatics and a course of anti-inflammatory drugs was prescribed and duly taken.

“Two months later after returning from a skiing trip, I felt as though I had been hit with a hammer, I was told this time it was migraine.”

Chris said her health deteriorated despite ‘countless’ tests and procedures at Dorset County Hospital and she was eventually diagnosed after being transferred to Southampton General Hospital. She added: “It was too late and the damage was done.

“After spending many weeks in hospital, I had a spinal shunt fitted to drain fluid from my brain.”

Chris says she now has to accept a more sedate lifestyle, which has meant finding less strenuous hobbies than flamenco dancing, including watercolour painting.

She said she had benefited from returning to work part time as a visiting support officer at Magna Housing Assoc-iation. Chris said: “My job gives me focus and doesn’t allow me to dwell on things I can’t change.

“It allows me to give help and support to the residents in sheltered housing and with the ongoing support of my special other half, my family and my friends and work colleagues, I will keep on sailing down the river of life and see what it throws up.”

Chris wrote to Waitrose in Dorchester to ask them to collect funds for the Lupus UK charity through their in-store green token scheme. She was delighted when the initiative raised £498. Chris said: “What a fantastic amount of money in these straitened times and my heartfelt thanks to everyone who put their green token in the Lupus slot.”

Factfile: What is Lupus?

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) causes the immune system to go into overdrive and start to attack itself.

Symptoms are varied, and the illness often seems to mimic other diseases.

This gives rise to difficulty in diagnosis and lupus is often overlooked unless the GP or consultant is alert to its possibility.

Achieving early diagnosis of lupus allows a better opportunity to control it.

Some 50,000 people are believed to suffer with the disease in the UK of whom 90 per cent are female.

Lupus is neither infectious nor contagious; it can be triggered at puberty, after childbirth, through sunlight, after a prolonged course of medication, during the menopause, after viral infection, or from trauma.

Symptoms may include fatigue, eye problems, mouth ulcers, miscarriage, hair loss, anaemia, joint/ muscle pain, depression, rashes and possible involvement of the heart, kidneys, lungs or brain.

To find out more about lupus, go to lupusuk.org.uk