April 2024

Alison Legge: Navigating the Workplace with a Rheumatic Disease

By |April 3rd, 2024|Advice, Blog, Stories, Work + Careers|

Alison Legge: Navigating the workplace with a rheumatic disease I was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) at three years old. Having dealt with the disease with varying degrees of severity for the past 24 years, I can say one of the most challenging things to manage is other [...]

Bridging the Gap

By |April 2nd, 2024|Blog, Research|

bridging the gap improving lives through research, education, connection, and support We're living in a time of exciting progress, where scientific breakthroughs are paving the way for better care for children and families dealing with pediatric rheumatic diseases. Every day, dedicated researchers, including those in our CREW Network, are pushing the boundaries of [...]

February 2024

Reine Hodroj – Rare Connection with Behçet’s disease

By |February 2nd, 2024|Blog, Ontario, Rare Disease Stories, Stories, Toronto|

Reine Hodroj - Learning to Live with Behcet's Disease Living with a chronic illness is an unimaginable challenge, and Behcet's Disease has been my constant companion in this journey. This rare autoimmune condition, characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, skin lesions, and systemic inflammation, has disrupted my life in many ways. However, my [...]

November 2023

October 2023

Seeing Possibilities after Diagnosis: a Uveitis Story

By |October 24th, 2023|About JIA, Advice, Advocacy, Blog, CREW, Rare Disease, Saskatchewan, Stories, Uveitis|

Throughout my life I have been granted many titles; mom, wife, daughter, registered nurse, and writer are just a few. These are the titles that are associated with my name. I could be described as outgoing, humorous, modest, and perhaps kind too. These would be some characteristics that people from a distance would use [...]

Lily’s Journey to Diagnosis, Methotrexate, and Finding A Community of Support

By |October 19th, 2023|Injection, JIA, Medication, Methotrexate, Newly Diagnosed, School, School Toolkit, TMJ|

Meet Lily. One morning, at the young age of 2, our daughter Lily woke up limping and her left knee looked slightly swollen. She didn't seem to show that she was in pain, but was refraining from putting weight on her left leg. We had no idea what happened and didn't recall any [...]

OPT-JIA Premedication Trial

By |October 17th, 2023|Blog, Current Research, Future Research, Injection, JIA, Medication, Research|

When I first heard of the medication Ondansetron, I couldn’t help but think about how its name sounded like a character from the Transformers movies. While this medication doesn’t fight space aliens or have a special effects budget, it does hold the capacity to TRANSFORM lives. How might you ask?Methotrexate is a [...]

Managing JA through Movement: How Ryan’s Gym Routine Helped Him to Build Physical (and Mental) Health and Lifted His Disease Management to the Next Level

By |October 3rd, 2023|Mental Health, Newly Diagnosed, Physical Activity, School Toolkit|

"Working out and going to the gym helped me regain my physical ability but also my confidence, energy and overall mental wellbeing." - Ryan Dekker, Young Adult Living with JA As someone who grew up with an active lifestyle (and plenty of energy), finding a way to stay active [...]

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