The Truth Staff
Roy Rachelle, a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, discovered she had lupus, discoid lupus, well into adulthood. The lupus scarred her face, causing her to continually have visits with a dermatologist, a rheumatologist and a family doctor to control her symptoms.
At the time she thought her postal service career was finished since her form of lupus meant she should avoid the sunlight.
“But then I found out that God gave me a voice … he gave me a voice for the disease,” she said last week when Toledo City Council honored her for using that voice over the past few years to bring awareness of the disease and raise funds for research here in the Toledo area.
Four years ago, Roy organized the first Living With Lupus Walk, a walk that has grown into a weekend of activities to benefit those with the disease that disproportionately affects Black woman.
Councilwoman Cerssandra McPherson’s house lies along Roy’s mail route and the councilwoman was thus incentivized to press her colleagues to honor Roy for her work.
This year’s Walk weekend includes: a bowling night at All Strikes Lane on Friday night from 7 to 11 p.m.; a wig giveaway on Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. at 1010 Dorr Street; a karaoke event at The Trunk on Saturday night from 7 to 11 p.m.; the Walk at Ottawa Park on Sunday morning starting at 9 a.m.