A local family is hoping to raise awareness surrounding lupus, an autoimmune disease causing the body’s immune system to attack healthy tissue, after their niece’s unexpected death.
Sarguneet ‘Sargun’ Kaur recently passed away from the disease at age 20 after a two-month ICU stint at Prince George’s University Hospital.
“It was very sudden. She got sick really fast,” Ravinder Kaur, Sargun’s cousin, told MyPGNow.
“She was walking, talking, then within hours we received a call that she was in critical care. We didn’t know she had lupus until about halfway through her medical stay.”
Sargun came to Prince George in 2017 from Nabha, a city in India’s Punjab region, and stayed with her aunt and uncle while she attended CNC for general arts.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Sargun was only allowed one visitor while she was in the hospital, and her immediate family was unable to come to Canada.
Her aunt went to the hospital every day to see her, often video calling Sargun’s immediate family back in India to keep them updated on her condition.
“Towards the end of her stay, she mentioned to my mom the word ‘home’ a couple of times. She kept mentioning to my mom that she wanted to go home, many times and she kept mentioning her mom,” Ravinder recalls.
Now, Sargun’s family has started a GoFundMe to return her to India for burial to honour her last request.
“It just did not sit right, for my mom especially, to do her final rites here.”
Ravinder says her family is looking at starting an education campaign for lupus, particularly for people of colour.
“I’m a nurse, but I have never heard of it killing people this young. It just completely caught us blindsided. I think there definitely needs to be more awareness of the early signs and symptoms, especially in our community,” she explained.
“A lot of the symptoms are based on one person’s skin. A lot of the studies are also based on Caucasian people, and rashes look very different on different colours of skin. Things like that.”
She thinks this might have played a role in how long it took to get a concrete diagnosis for her cousin.
In the hopes that others could avoid a similar situation, Ravinder urges those studying abroad to pay attention to their health and take proper precautions — no matter how minor the concern.
“Please, please do your regular checkups. Please follow up with a doctor when your prescription runs out. Just because they have given it to you for one month does not mean that’s it, you may have to refill it,” she warned.
“A lot of international students, they come here with big hopes and big dreams. They oftentimes think they are invincible.”
Ravinder says her family will remember Sargun as determined, goal-oriented, and an extremely giving person, who acted ‘as a sister’ to her younger cousins.
You can find the fundraiser here:
*Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated Sargun was a UNBC student. The story has been corrected to read CNC.
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