In early 2022 we launched the Team Cassie + Friends Youth Ambassador program to support youth in raising awareness of JA and other rheumatic diseases within their school community. Soleil is one of our first Team C+F Youth Ambassadors! This month she will give a presentation to her entire school on Juvenile Arthritis and [...]
For Lupus Awareness Month, we asked new C+F Board Member, Dr. Deborah Levy, to share five facts about childhood-onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (cSLE). Dr. Levy is the Clinical Director, Division of Rheumatology at the Hospital for Sick Children (“SickKids”) in Toronto and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. She is the [...]
My name is Maryse Hendi and I live in Calgary, AB. In 2012, at age 10, I was diagnosed with lupus. Lupus is a disease in which the immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks healthy tissue, joints, and organs in the body. On May 1st, I celebrated a milestone in my lupus journey: my [...]
Meet Sheila and Jim! They've shared their family’s journey with the rare rheumatic disease, CRMO, below. Sheila and Jim live in Qualicum Beach on beautiful Vancouver Island. They have three sons, two of which live with Chronic Recurrent Multifocal Osteomyelitis (CRMO). Nolan was diagnosed with CRMO at the age of five in [...]
Addie, Prince George, BC 14 years old, Psoriatic JIA I used to hike and play school sports like basketball and volleyball. Now, I’m not able to because my arthritis hurts too much in my elbow, ankles and knees. This last year I started on the volleyball team, but had to stop playing because of [...]
Meet Carrie Ritchie! Carrie is a member of the Cassie + Friends National Board of Directors and a parent of a child with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. We caught up with Carrie to learn about her family's journey with juvenile arthritis over the last 2 years. As a board member, Carrie looks forward to helping [...]
Scarlett’s journey started at about 16 months old. We noticed that in the mornings, she would just sit for up to two hours. Did not want to stand or walk - she almost seemed like she had to ‘warm up’ first. After about a week of no improvement, I took her to the doctor [...]
A year and a half ago our daughter was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. Her pain and psoriasis started about a year before that but between misdiagnosis and chalking things up to growing pains, we had no idea JIA was even a thing. It all came to a head after a hike when her knee [...]
I was diagnosed with JIA 25 years ago. Twenty-five years ago I was 13 years old and newly diagnosed with JIA or as it was known in my day, JRA (Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis). When I was a teen I found a lot of peer support through a Juvenile Arthritis Physiotherapy program, which is why [...]
It's #JuvenileArthritisAwarenessMonth, what can I do to help? To make it easy for you to get involved, we've put together 5 Simple Ways to Recognize Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month. From educating classmates to participating in fundraising events (such as our Cassie + Friends Run/Walk for Juvenile Arthritis- check out #1), we have the opportunity [...]
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