Crown Heights woman Monique Gore-Massy, who has lupus, to join Walk to End Lupus fundraiser

A Crown Heights woman stricken with a debilitating disease plans to walk for a cure this weekend despite her troubles.
On any given day, Monique Gore-Massy appears to be an average Brooklyn resident, but she has lupus.
"Imagine your body trying to fight a cold every single day," she says. "It's just going to ravage you."
Gore-Massy was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease when she was 31, just months before her wedding. She takes at least eight medications a day and says she can no longer work due to kidney failure, and trouble with her vision, speech, back and digestive tract. 
The effects on each patient can vary, she says.
Some suffer from depression. Others struggle to alter their lifestyle in order to deal with the disease.
"I need assistance to do the most basic and mundane things," she says, adding that she used to be an independent person.
Now she's speaking out because May is Lupus Awareness Month and Saturday will host a charity walk to fund research into a cure.
Gore-Massy says she intends to attend the 10th annual Walk to End Lupus fundraiser event.
"This is more than just saying we're going out to walk," she says. "This is a life-changing thing that we're trying to do. Finding a cure is a life-changing thing for me."