UNA Tuitubou was preparing to see her son get married in December 2016. Aged 27, Lawrence Fung was a budding young lawyer with his whole life ahead of him. He loved life, and it showed in everything he did.
But when he died suddenly in September that year, everything about Una’s outlook on life changed. Aunty Una, as she is fondly known by those close to her, struggled to come to terms with the loss, believing it could have been prevented.
On the back of that loss and her suffering, she decided to take her remaining son’s advice and make something of the tragedy. Something that would prevent premature death in children, and save parents from having to watch their children die young.
And so was born the Lupus Foundation of Fiji, founded by aunty Una as a tribute to the son she lost.
“Lawrence was a month and a half shy of being 28,” she said.
“He died in September 2016, and was supposed to have been married in December that year. He actually paid for his wedding.
“I arrived in the country on the morning of Saturday, September 24th, and he died 14 hours later.”
At first, she said she felt the world had cheated her of her son but almost a decade later, she says his death has not been in vain.
“Lawrence had an autoimmune disease when he was two years old. He was admitted for three weeks but he was not positively diagnosed with any particular disease. He had asthma from infancy but the paediatrician attributed it to him being born prematurely. He never outgrew that.”
By early 2015, she said he had suffered hair loss, and had rashes and swollen joints, and was going between private and specialist hospitals.
“Everyone was missing the signs. He was admitted in February 2016 for a few days and sent home. He got very sick again in September and his dad took him to a private hospital. They did his blood tests and he was already showing thrombocytopenia (low platelet count in blood).”
She said he was transferred to CWM Hospital that same night after the private hospital said it lacked expertise to deal with the illness.
“By day five he was positively diagnosed with lupus. Lawrence died from complications of lupus and his death brought the light on the stigma around the disease.”
She said the lack of rheumatologists in the country was an issue.
“We do have doctors in internal medicine who know how to treat some of the symptoms of lupus.
“But because of the lack of knowledge about the symptoms and treatment, missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis are common.
“Lupus mimics other diseases however, a rheumatologist can easily pick up the symptoms if they can connect the dots.”
Aunty Una says while they have saved lives by creating awareness through the Lupus Foundation of Fiji, this work also had its challenges.
“Lupus is connected to witchcraft or kalounidraki in the Fijian communities. Everywhere we have gone, this has been evident in the conversations we’ve had.
“The minute you say kalounidraki you should see the fear that takes over people. They’d say, ‘We’re surprised you are telling us kalounidraki is actually lupus. We thought it is connected to the vanua’.
“I usually ask them what the signs and symptoms of kalounidraki are and they’ll mention about four. I tell them there are actually 11 to 14 symptoms of lupus and the only reason people see four is because victims are not alive to be able to manifest the other symptoms.
“For those who say it’s their sickness, I ask them how they have the power to create sickness. And I tell them you are killing people by not taking them to the hospital. They need to be treated and there is medication that can manage the disease.”
With over 30 years of experience as an ultrasound and x-ray technician, and with her son George Fung’s background as an economist, the mother-son duo decided to develop a strategy for a specialist hospital.
“People can live with the disease and still lead productive lives. Like all autoimmune diseases, lupus is inflammation. If we treat inflammation, we treat lupus.”
Parents, she said, did not need to bury their kids prematurely.
“But it takes a whole lot of us including faith-based organisations to work together because there’s also a spiritual aspect to living with and managing lupus.”
LUPUS Foundation Executive Director, Unaisi Tuitubou, in an interview with the Fiji Times in Suva, on Thurs 24 Apr 2025. Picture: ELIKI NUKUTABU
LUPUS Foundation Executive Director, Unaisi Tuitubou, in an interview with the Fiji Times in Suva, on Thurs 24 Apr 2025. Picture: ELIKI NUKUTABU
