Where Are They Now: Zahra's Story In this special Rare Disease Month edition of “Where Are They Now”, we caught up with Zahra Alidina. In 2023, Zahra shared what life was like living with an autoinflammatory disease that is so rare it doesn’t even have a name. We’re so honoured to share this [...]
Blending Lived Experience with Research: Brittany's Story Hi! I’m Brittany – and I’m here to share with you a bit about my experience as someone who works in health research and lives with Ankylosing Spondylitis! I currently work as a Senior Research Associate at the University of [...]
From Patient to Pediatric Rheumatologist: Dr. Molly Dushnicky Dr. Molly Dushnicky’s story sounds like a lot of her patients’: When she was just 18 months old, she stopped walking, her knees wouldn’t bend easily, and she wasn’t her usual happy self. That’s when she was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis [...]
Are you ready to take action for kids living with Juvenile Arthritis (JA) and other rheumatic diseases? Make an immediate impact on childhood rheumatic diseases by doing #VirtuallyAnything to help raise awareness, fund research, and support families. The problem: Awareness of rheumatic conditions in youth is extremely low—only about 20% of Canadians are [...]
Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day, and this year’s theme is sounding the alarm on a growing crisis in Canada: Youth mental health. This issue is deeply important to us at Cassie + Friends, as we work every day to support young people living with rheumatic diseases and their families. A recent report [...]
Raising Awareness, Sharing Hope: One Family’s Journey with SJIA We’re so excited to introduce Tamara Schnarr, one of our new parent ambassadors for the Kitchener-Waterloo region! Tamara, a Realtor with a background in marketing, graphic design, and event management, is passionate about giving back to her [...]
Paige’s Journey with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis To have a chronic illness is to be fighting every day for the next. My name is Paige Simpson. I am 17 years old, I was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, otherwise known as JIA. I have been treated for JIA for 15 years but have [...]
A Year of Advocacy and Impact: Our 2024 Highlights If it seems like we were everywhere this year - we were! We never turn down an opportunity to raise awareness about childhood rheumatic diseases or advocate for more resources for our community. That’s what makes Cassie + Friends the leading voice for [...]
Attacking Barriers: Fencing with JIA For a lot of kids, being diagnosed with a rheumatic disease, like Juvenile Arthritis (JIA), means adapting to a whole new way of life. Today, we’re honoured to share the story of Paula and her son Simon, who was diagnosed with Enthesitis-Related Arthritis (ERA) [...]
A Guide to Accommodations Acceptance, Peer Pressure, and Fear We’re honoured to share this piece by Kayla Caddy, a young adult living with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) who works as a job coach for people on the autism spectrum. Drawing on her lived experience and professional expertise, Kayla shares with us [...]
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