(Eagle News) — Miss Universe Jamaica 2014 finalist Zandrea Bailey has died after battling lupus for years.
Bailey, who had been diagnosed with the condition in 2012, passed away in a hospital in New York, where she had been staying.
She was 29 years old.
According to the Lupus Foundation of America, lupus is a “chronic autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs).”
In lupus, the foundation said the body creates autoantibodies that “attack and destroy healthy tissue.”
Bailey’s mother reportedly also passed away due to lupus.