Report from Annual Butterfly Gala

Among the honored guests of the Lupus Foundation of America’s annual prestigious Butterfly Gala at Gotham Hall in New York City on October 18 were the multi-talented musician, philanthropist and photographer Julian Lennon and the actor S. Epatha Merkerson.

They presented Goldberg with the 2012 National Public Awareness Award for her work to increase public awareness of issues touching the lives of women and children, including lupus.

Julian Lennon also made a substantial donation to the Lupus Foundation. This was in recognition of the serious nature of Lupus, a chronic, autoimmune disease in which the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign pathogens and the body’s healthy tissues and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, debilitating pain, and damage in various parts of the body and can ultimately prove fatal.