The New York Jets and Lupus Research Alliance will host Lupus Awareness Day on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at MetLife Stadium when the Jets take on the Las Vegas Raiders. This event, designed to increase awareness of this devastating autoimmune disease, will help raise funds supporting the lupus research needed to deliver new treatments and ultimately a cure.
To further this goal, the Jets 50/50 Raffle presented by Helix Wireless, an official IoT Provider of the New York Jets, will benefit the Lupus Research Alliance. At each Jets home game, fans can purchase 50/50 raffle tickets three hours prior to kick off until the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter. At the November 1 Game, one lucky fan will split the jackpot with the Lupus Research Alliance. For rules and more information go to nyjets.com/5050raffle.
Additionally, several representatives of the Lupus Research Alliance will be recognized at the Game. Serving as honorary team captain for the game is actress, speaker, writer, and Lupus Research Alliance supporter who lives with lupus, Faith Majors. The donation from the 50/50 Raffle will be presented to long-time LRA champion Kate DeScherer Ventura and her family. The Jets are deeply committed to supporting the Lupus Research Alliance, the world's leading private funder of innovative research that can make a difference for people living with lupus. To date, the organization has committed over $284 million to more than 675 research projects. Each of these efforts is designed with one goal in mind: improving the lives of people with lupus by accelerating discoveries, advancing new therapies, and ultimately delivering a cure. Because the Lupus Research Alliance Board of Directors funds all administrative and fundraising costs, 100% of all donations received goes to support lupus research programs.
Lupus is a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In lupus, the immune system, meant to defend against infections, produces autoantibodies that mistake the body's own cells as foreign, causing other immune cells to attack organs such as the kidneys, brain, heart, lungs and skin, as well as blood and joints. Ninety percent of people with lupus are women, most often diagnosed between the ages of 15-45. Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian and Pacific Islander people are disproportionately affected by lupus.
