Liat Sacks, a senior special education major, was diagnosed with lupus about two years ago. She gets through days in bed by writing inspirational quotes on a mural in her room.

Liat Sacks dreamed of opening a school for children with special needs. She ran, easily snapped open shampoo bottles, flipped up mailboxes and pulled her bedcovers over herself at night.

But one day would change everything, including her dreams, her academic plans and the weight of a simple ponytail on her shoulder.

When Sacks woke up during winter break two years ago, she couldn’t feel her hands. A few hours later, her body began to stiffen.

For a month, the now-senior special education major consulted rheumatologists, oncologists and pediatricians to find answers. Although her family has a history of lymphoma, and her dad was undergoing stem cell treatment for relapsing lymphoma at the time, it wasn’t cancer, the doctors said.

It was lupus, an autoimmune disease that fights the victim’s own body, destroying tissue and often causing intense fatigue, swelling and stiffness. The disease has no cure. Flare-ups, which happen twice a week on average when her lupus is active, keep her out of class. Her roommate has to help her with the simplest of tasks.

On other days, though, it’s as if the lupus isn’t there. Shifting between the good days and bad has helped Sacks learn to go with the flow. On her notebooks, in her paintings and on her wall mural, which is full of quotes that have gotten her through days spent in bed, she writes an age-old proverb: “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”

While finding a cure for lupus is likely a long way down the medical road, Sacks said removing the stigma associated with the disease can help people come to terms with their condition. Her doctors told her to describe her disease to people as a connective tissue disease, instead of simply telling them she has lupus. Transparency is the key to helping others understand, she said.

“People ask questions, but most, they just don’t know. I look normal. I act normal, and for many people, coming to terms with that is difficult,” she said. Sacks reacted to her own diagnosis with a big question mark, wondering, “What is lupus anyway?”

Three months into her disease, she filed for disability accommodations. She couldn’t be around kids because her medications would make her immune system sensitive to even the slightest colds.

“The disease killed her inside. She couldn’t pursue special education as heartily as she had wanted to before, but being the amazing person she is, Liat rebounded, again and again,” said Jenny Wilders, her best friend and a senior special education major. Wilders took Sacks to many of her doctor’s appointments and was one of the first people to suggest she had lupus.

In search of a summer job, Sacks threw herself into art. Her father made her artistic dreams come true, as he took Sacks to a supply store and filled her cart to the brim with $1,500 worth of art materials. Sacks found a way out, as she would continue to do.

Sacks makes traditional Jewish paintings and handcrafted decorative pieces to raise money for the Lupus Foundation of America. She has raised more than $500 for the foundation through her shop on Etsy, an online platform for artists. She has received orders from every U.S. state.

“Even though I sometimes have trouble with fine motor skills, art reminds me of all the things I can do,” she said. “When you’re losing your hair and having trouble with the smallest things, putting gems and quotes together is a really calming feeling.”

Although Sacks was always an art lover, she said she knew this was what she wanted to do ever since her father received a small, handmade turtle decorated piece while he was in the hospital for lymphoma. The elaborate bouquets and the ornate get-well-soon cards are not what got him through treatment — the little things, handmade and beautiful, did, she said.

For Sacks, some little things, such as opening an envelope, can hold her back, but others can push her forward, such as placing gems on a painting or helping kids with special needs, even from a distance.

“I’ll have lupus forever, unless there’s a cure — and that’s okay,” she said. “I’m still going to find a way to do special education. That’s why I love that caterpillar quote so much — life will carry me through.”

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