The 2013-14 Hilbert College women's basketball team, under the leadership of senior Natalie Whitman, assisted the Lupus Alliance of Upstate New York this winter.

Whitman teamed up with Daemen College women's basketball player Jordan Broas to create an avenue for collegiate women's basketball teams in the Western New York area to rally together to help fund further lupus medical research. Whitman and Broas are cousins and have grown-up playing basketball together. Yet now they step on different courts carrying the same purpose of fighting a disease that Broas battles daily.

Whitman and Broas, along with their respective teammates, participated in a foul shooting event. The goal was for each athlete to collect monetary pledges within their college community prior to their free-throw shooting challenge. At the conclusion of the shoot-a-thon and after all the money was collected, the Hilbert women's basketball program made a $150 donation to the Lupus Alliance of Upstate New York.

Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease which causes inflammation of various parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood or kidneys. Lupus can be difficult to diagnose since some symptoms are transient joint and muscle paid, fatigue, a rash caused by or made worse by sunlight, low grade fevers, hair loss, pleurisy, appetite loss, sores in the nose or mouth, or painful sensitivity of the fingers to cold.

Lupus in not infections, rare or cancerous. Market research data shows that between 1.4 and 2 million people have been diagnosed with Lupus. 90% of those affected are women in their child bearing years. It is more prevalent in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asians.

Although lupus ranges from mild to life threatening and many American still die from lupus complications, the majority of cases can be controlled with proper treatment.

*For more information, please visit www.lupusupstateny.org or call 716-835-7161.