Bella is turning 7 this year and while most kids her age are focused on playing outside and colouring, Bella is dealing with the ups and downs of Muckle-Wells Syndrome which includes painful injections. As you can imagine, she has been struggling with the large doses of anakinra and the needle pokes. To help, we sent her a Cassie + Friends Care Package with a few little goodies including a Buzzy Bee to make those injection days a bit easier.

“Bella was so excited to receive her gift,” said her Mom, Jianne, “she put on the Cassie + Friends lanyard right away and I wear the Cassie + Friends pin to work every day”

But one of the best surprises in the package was a personal letter written by Ciara, an amazing youth leader in our community who was working with C+F this past summer. Ciara shared her own experiences with her injections and some words of encouragement.

“The letter was wonderful, it’s so nice to have someone who’s going through similar things be there for us, it means so much to Bella, she keeps the letter under her pillow.”

Medication and injections can be both painful and stressful to administer at home. It’s important to support each other and our community, especially when it comes to the kids and youth who have to face the daily realities of life with a childhood rheumatic disease.

If you’re looking for information and resources to help with your family’s injection experience, visit the C+F Injection Support page where you can find webinar recordings, videos of youth in our community demonstrating their self-injection routine, FAQs, workbooks, community stories and more.