Lupus. Those five letters hurled Wendy Rodgers' life into a tailspin 10 years ago when she was first diagnosed with the chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease that causes the immune system to mistakenly attack the body's own healthy cells and tissue as if they were bacteria or viruses.

At 27, she lost her hair, suffered from painful and swollen joints, kidney problems and outsized fatigue, among other symptoms. She was so crippled by the disease that she quit work. Her husband left, unable to care for sick wife after just a year-and-a-half of marriage, she said. And Rodgers, who taught sixth-grade math and science, had lost her will to live.

But in an epiphanic moment, she embraced life like a newborn baby when she thought of her daughter whom she had at 16.

"I lost the ability to walk,'' she told Black Voices. "I even planned my funeral. I had doctors tell me that it was my last night on earth and I should just make myself as comfortable as possible. But when I thought about my daughter and realized I wanted to be here for her, I made it through. I found my strength through her. My teenage pregnancy turned out to be a blessing in disguise.''

Today, Rodgers tells her compelling story as the spokeswoman for the Lupus Awareness Campaign called "Could I have Lupus,?' a partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Office on Women's Health and the Ad Council.

The campaign, which is important because lupus is known as the silent attacker, is aimed at African American, Hispanic and Asian women of childbearing age from 18 to 44, who are at the greatest risk for lupus, medical experts say. African American women are three times more likely than white women to get the disease and medical experts are trying to determine just why, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. No one knows what causes the disease, experts say.

Besides fatigue, hair loss, painful or swollen joints, other symptoms include fever and skin rashes. Without intervention, according to Human Services, lupus can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, disability, and death. Medical experts said early and effective treatment can lessen symptoms, decrease inflammation and pain and stem the development of more complications.

Treatment includes a range of drugs, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antimalarial drugs, which helps to prevent flares and corticosteroids, but cause vision problems and muscle weakness, according to the Mayo Clinic. Other treatment includes corticosteroids, which helps with inflammation, but can have serious long-term side effects, including weight gain, easy bruising, thinning bones, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Sometimes lupus sufferers experience a "flare," according to the "Could I Have Lupus?" Web site. It occurs when certain symptoms like, say, skin inflammation, appear for short periods then disappear. Even if patients take medication, they may find that there are times when the symptoms become worse.

"It's important to make women aware of the symptoms so they can reach out for help right away,'' said Dr. Svetlana Kogan, M.D., an internist who has treated lupus patients and is the founder of Doctors at Trump Place in New York City.

"The most import message to stress to young people is that they should come in for yearly check ups,'' Kogan said. "These things can be uncovered during physicals. When doctors ask how a patient feels, they should mention things like body aches or heavy bleeding during periods. It opens the avenue for diagnosing diseases like lupus.''

That is how Rodgers was diagnosed. Bedeviled by pain, the new bride who had just moved from Houston to Los Angeles with her family recalls stumbling across a random article about lupus. She identified with the symptoms and asked her doctor if she could be suffering from the disease. The doctor ran a series of tests, and she was diagnosed six months later.

"I was frustrated,'' she said. "My first symptom was joint pain, but then I had a paralysis episode. It scared me. When I went to primary care physician, my blood pressure was 225/125. I was a healthy eater. I wasn't thin, but I wasn't overweight. I worked out and I was an athlete in college. I was shocked.''

Shortly thereafter, she was hospitalized and put on dialysis because her kidneys were on the brink of failure.

"Basically, my lupus attacked my central nervous system and my kidneys,'' she said. "I was in the severe category. I was diagnosed with the disease in February 2000. By August, I was on life support. That's how aggressive my flare was. I didn't think I was going to make it.''

But she survived in spite of the bedside eulogies. And now, after 10 years of dialysis, she recently received a kidney transplant.

"I am blessed,'' she said. "That is why I want to tell my story. I want people to know they are not alone and that they can make it to the other side. They just have to be proactive."