ALGONQUIN – Sunshine. That is the perfect word to describe 11-year-old Michael Masters.

To sit across from him as he indulges in his favorite double dog from Dante’s in Algonquin, one can’t help but feel the positivity he radiates and the warmth he ignites in the heart, holding his smile during each enormous bite.

Just another one of life’s inexplicable misfortunes. Sunshine is the one thing that Michael needs to avoid. On Nov. 1, the Algonquin boy was told he had systemic lupus ereythematosis, an autoimmune disease more commonly known as lupus.