Lupus Awareness Month: ‘I haven’t got to a place of acceptance… but that’s OK’

Having lived with lupus for nearly two decades, the Wren Project CEO Kate Middleton was told that she should “be at peace” with her diagnosis.

But thanks to the work of our charity, which offers individuals living with autoimmune diseases a space to talk honestly about their experience, Kate said I can “feel however I want to feel.”

Sharing her personal experience for Lupus Awareness Month, Kate revealed: “I was diagnosed with lupus when I was 17. It has shaped my entire adult life and it hasn’t been happy.

”I haven’t enjoyed it and I don’t like lupus. I haven’t got to a place of acceptance or love, but I think now that is actually OK.

”It took the Wren Project to discover this.”

Kate set up the Wren Project in 2020, to offer a free, one-to-one listening space for people struggling with the complexities of an autoimmune disease diagnosis. She wanted there to be a place where people could talk openly, honestly about how their disease made them feel, without any judgement or advice.

Speaking about her personal experience with lupus, she believes it is “OK” to say out loud that she never wanted lupus in her life.

”The Wren Project means that I am able to feel however I want to feel. Which is angry.

”I don’t want this in my life. I don’t think I have got it wrong because I don’t accept it,” she continued.

”It’s what drives me to work every day. It’s just my tool for living. I think that is the wonderful thing about what we offer at the Wren Project.

”It is a space to live and speak about your disease in the way that you want to. No gloss, no shine.”

Kate Middleton, CEO of the Wren Project, shared her personal journey with autoimmune disease for ‘Wren Voices’ this Lupus Awareness Month. If you would like to share your story with us, please get in touch here.