Stories and Viewpoints

Patient Inspiration

By: Niki Kapsambelis

May 6, 2026

Living with lupus has reshaped nearly every part of Verkeya Holman’s life. But it has also sharpened her sense of purpose. 

While strolling through New York City’s Central Park, she sometimes reflects on what she has lost and what she has gained. Once an avid long-distance runner, she trained here; it was also where she completed her final race before she was sidelined by lupus. Having grown up in Harlem just blocks from the park, running gave her a new way to experience familiar places.    

Today, those park visits look different, but they carry new meaning because she can now share the park with her 11-year-old son, Kaiden.   

“He’s my rainbow baby,” said Verkeya. “Rainbow babies are babies that are born after a loss, because it’s like the rainbow after the storm.”  

Verkeya was diagnosed with lupus in 2011, shortly after experiencing a miscarriage. At the time, she was dealing with severe migraines and joint pain – symptoms her doctor recognized from another patient living with the chronic autoimmune disease. In hindsight, she recalls that her symptoms actually had been occurring for years.   

She and her then-husband, Kiione Davis, later experienced another devastating loss when their son Kaleb was stillborn at 27 weeks in 2013. Verkeya does not know if a lupus flare she had at the time was a contributing factor in Kaleb’s stillbirth.   

In March 2015, Kaiden arrived. Although Kiione and Verkeya split in 2020, they remain committed partners in raising their son, whether that means biking through the city or attending a Broadway show together.  

Today, Verkeya is pursuing a doctorate in social work while maintaining a full-time job as a social worker. She is a passionate advocate for lupus patients, particularly women of color, who are three times more likely than white women to develop the disease.   

She plans to focus her doctoral studies on the intersection of mental and physical health, an area she understands personally. Living with a chronic illness, she says, means managing not only medical symptoms, but also the emotional weight that can affect health outcomes.   

“If you live with lupus and you are struggling with your mental health, ask for help,” she said. “Because if you don’t, your mental health is going to impact your physical health, which is already compromised. So you have to stay as healthy as possible.”   

Verkeya also advocates for better representation of people of color in clinical trials.  

“If it’s impacting us the most, we need to be a part of the process of getting things made for us,” she said. “I look at it from the aspect of: This may not cure me, but there’s some little girl that hasn’t been born yet who wants to do all of the things and is going to get diagnosed with lupus. I want her to be able to live her life on whatever terms she wants to.”