‘I ran the London Marathon for my little sister who died from lupus - now I want to do more major marathons for the invisible disease disproportionately affecting Black women'
Black women are three times more likely to develop lupus compared to white women and often experience more severe symptoms and complications, according to the Society for Women's Health Research.
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The Source Exclusive: ‘I ran the London Marathon for my little sister who died from lupus - now I want to do more major marathons for the invisible disease disproportionately affecting Black women’
Jude Davis’s sister Rachael had her life cut short at just 16 years old. Thinking of the pain she experienced with lupus pushed Jude to finish a gruelling 26.2-mile race.
STORY BY MELISSA SIGODO
JUNE 3, 2025
An older brother who ran the London Marathon in tribute to his little sister who died from lupus says he wants to complete more major marathons to raise awareness about the ‘invisible disease.’
Jude Davis, 42, lost his younger sibling Rachael in 2002 when she died aged 16 following a long battle with the incurable condition.
Lupus disproportionately affects Black women and is an autoimmune disease that creates autoantibodies which attack the body’s tissues and can cause damage to organs and joints.
When Rachael passed away, Jude who was at a US summer camp at the time says that missing the chance to say goodbye left him struggling to grieve properly for over two decades.
But now, since coming to terms with his sister’s death, Jude managed to complete the painful 26.2-mile London Marathon this year in her honour and hopes to take on both the Boston and New York City marathons.
Jude said: “I said to myself, ‘the pain I'm going through is nothing compared to what Rachael had to go through.’ ‘I'm doing this for her. This pain is temporary. Just keep on going. Just keep on going. People have sponsored you, keep on going.’
“I was running, going through the pain and it was hard. Just in terms of physically and mentally, but I'm just like, ‘I have to do this for her.’
“It was like 22 degrees on the day, and I'd never run in that [because] I was training in the winter. I think the most I'd run was 15 degrees, so it was extreme.
“This was for her and all the people suffering with lupus.”
Jude says that before being diagnosed with lupus, Rachael whose hands were often cold was initially told she had Raynaud’s disease - a condition that causes blood to stop flowing properly to fingers and toes.
But Jude’s parents persisted to question doctors as Rachael experienced more symptoms including fevers and extreme fatigue.
Although she was eventually told she had lupus at five years old and spent most of her life being looked after by doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital - Rachael was later forced to be in and out of school due to her compromised immune system, as she was placed on dialysis when her kidneys failed to function from the damage caused by the disease.
Jude said: “She would have good days, good weeks or good months and then she would have really bad months where she would have to go into hospital.
“Eventually it did get quite bad where she had to actually have dialysis. So, it affected her. It affects your internal organs, but for her, it affected her kidneys so bad to the point where she had to have dialysis.”
But the 43-year-old says that despite the pain she was going through, Rachael put her feelings above others as she frequently checked how her family was coping.
Jude said: “Even with everything that she was going through with lupus, and this is a young girl having to go on dialysis - she would always kind of be making sure that my parents were okay and checking on us. She was just a sweet, sweet girl.”
But for Jude who was away at Camp America when Rachael took her last breath, not being able to see her before she died made it difficult to grasp what had happened for many years.
He said: “It was quite intense for her, and she passed at the age of 16. My whole family got to say goodbye to her. I didn't.
“They were all there when she died. I was on the other side of the world, so, I think for me, I wasn't able to mourn her, but I was very sad.”
While isolated during the Covid pandemic in 2020, Jude says he was forced to confront his feelings of trauma and loss.
Jude said: “My brother, sister and sister-in-law reached out to me and said, ‘what's going on? How are you feeling?’, and you know, everything came out.”
Now, since completing the London marathon for his sister, Jude says hopes to take part in the Boston Marathon as well as the New York City Marathon in order to raise more awareness about the invisible disease which also sees Black women experiencing more severe complications.
He said: “It really does affect our [Black] community. I want people to know that the disease is out there, and there are people that are suffering from that. Whether they be in the workplace, it’s one of those diseases, you can't necessarily see it.
“Yes, people can lose weight or with my sister, she actually had to go on steroids, so she put on a lot of weight, but for some people, it's an invisible disease.
“They could be suffering, and you wouldn't know. They may be going to work or feeling tired or feeling a certain way, so, I just want people to kind of be educated about that disease and support in any way that they can.
“What we can do to support people is by helping charities like Lupus UK. It’s not curable, but there are many people that live many years with lupus.”
But as well as raising awareness about the disease, Jude says running the marathon felt ‘euphoric’ and the support he received left him in tears.
He said: “As I was running, there was this amazing euphoria and just joy, and especially at the start. And I was so proud of everyone that was running with us.
“I had friends that just turned up that I wasn't expecting. I had my sister-in-law, and my niece and nephew turned up. When I saw them, I broke down in tears. Everyone was singing, ‘Hey, Jude [by The Beatles].’ People I didn't know, and it was great.
“You don't see a lot of Black people at all. So, I think when Black people who are there supporting whomever they're supporting, when they see another Black person - the joy from them, it's just incredible. I need to do it again.”
Overall, Jude managed to raise over £3,400 surpassing his initial £1000 target.
For more details about his fund, click here.
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