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Local teacher with lupus to run half-marathon

Debbie Frerick, a second-grade teacher at Creekview Elementary School, stands outside the school Thursday, April 9, in Middletown. Frerick will in a half-marathon today, April 11, in Champaign, Ill., to raise money for lupus research.

Staff photo by Nick Graham Debbie Frerick, a second-grade teacher at Creekview Elementary School, stands outside the school Thursday, April 9, in Middletown. Frerick will in a half-marathon today, April 11, in Champaign, Ill., to raise money for lupus research.

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By Meagan Engle, Staff Writer Updated 11:09 AM Saturday, April 11, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — When Debbie Frerick was diagnosed with lupus that was damaging her kidneys, she was told most people live only about 10 years.

That was more than a decade ago.

Frerick’s lupus is in remission and the once 300-pound woman is running a half-marathon — 13.1 miles — today, April, 11 in Champaign, Ill., to raise money for the Lupus Foundation of America.

“I’m in disbelief I can do this,” Frerick said of the 2 1/2 hour run. “I can’t believe that it’s me saying it.”

The Lupus Foundation estimates that 1.5 million Americans suffer from the chronic autoimmune disease that causes their bodies’ immune system to attack and destroy their own healthy tissue.

“When I was diagnosed 10 years ago, I was told most people with the extreme to which I had kidney involvement lived about 10 years,” she said.

It has taken chemotherapy and a lot of medicine, but Frerick, 38, is living a completely different life. “That was Life A,” she said, “and this is Life B.”

In Life A, the elementary school teacher at Creekview couldn’t walk her students to art or gym class without losing her breath.

In Life B, she can easily run 12 miles at Smith Park.

“I’ve been just super, super fortunate,” she said. “I’ve gone from one extreme to the other.”

As she runs today in Illinois, Frerick said she will be thinking of the people who have sponsored the miles and helped her down the “very long, tough road” battling the disease.

“I’ve always kind of thought that there was some reason for me having this lupus,” she said. “Now I’m feeling that this fundraiser and raising awareness is my reason and what I can give back.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or mengle@coxohio.com.

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