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…

Caden was diagnosed with JIA when she was just 3 years old. When we first noticed her limping, we thought she may have hurt her knee skiing as we had just taken her for her first lessons. Then one morning I saw her sneaking down the stairs from her bedroom,…

Uveitis (inflammation of the eye) is a serious complication occurring in 20% of children with Juvenile Arthritis, a condition that is hard to diagnose without regular eye screening. Treatment of Uveitis can often be aggressive, sometimes calling for eye drops multiple times a day in order to prevent vision loss…

In Spring of 2018, my 6 year old daughter was complaining of neck pain.  It was mistaken as pain from her twice a week swimming lessons.  One morning in August that same year she asked me to look at her knee because it was really hurting.  I was shocked to…

For those of us who live each day affected by juvenile arthritis or another rheumatic disease, it can often feel like there is no one who can understand what we are going through. Although this can feel isolating, when we share our juvenile arthritis and other rheumatic disease stories with…

Juvenile arthritis became a part of our family and our lives in September of 2006. One morning Cassie, then only 20 months old, wouldn’t walk when we took her out of her crib. After a ton of tests, we ultimately received the diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. We couldn’t imagine…