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PwC commits $10,000 to transform the futures of youth with arthritis

June 21, 2018- VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: University Student, Alison Legge, 22, knows all too well just how painful studying, full-time work or even a casual, part-time job can be thanks to Juvenile Arthritis – an incurable, autoimmune disease affecting every 3 in 1000 youth in Canada.

That’s why she’s taking the lead, just five months after a radical double jaw replacement surgery, as the chair of Cassie and Friends’ new Youth Leader Network (YLN) – an initiative that’s set to receive an incredible $10,000 boost from PwC Canada’s Young People Project.

Launched in 2018, PwC’s Young People Project is an exciting new program to help prepare at least 10,000 young people for the future of work – an area of high importance to youth like Legge who sometimes struggle to keep up at school and hold steady employment given the highly unpredictable and often invisible nature of her disease.

“I struggle with anxiety and depression on an almost daily basis,” says Legge. “Some days I just get so tired of…constantly feeling like nobody believes me, of always being the person that cancels last minute. But my advice to others and the message I want to spread through the YLN is…you’ve got to keep pushing.”

The mission of the YLN is just that – to provide a platform for youth living with rheumatic diseases to connect, be engaged and get empowered, so they can keep pushing forward with their education, careers and lives. Through the network, and thanks to PwC Canada’s support, Cassie and Friends will develop a first-in-Canada platform for affected youth focussed on delivering technology-based and in-person tips, guidance and mentorship that will help to eliminate barriers to school success and provide the resources and information youth need to thrive in the workforce.

“PwC is proud to have made a major commitment to help young Canadians maximize their potential with a specific focus on youth employment,” said Mike Harris, Board Chair, PwC Canada. “We understand, from Cassie and Friends, that young people with chronic, invisible conditions like Juvenile Arthritis can face major challenges in transitioning from school into early employment and learning to balancing work and health. That’s why we’re so excited to  support the early development of their Youth Leader Network and help fill those knowledge and support gaps for both affected youth and employers together.”

Cassie and Friends Society – a Vancouver-based national charity 100% focussed on transforming the lives of kids with arthritis – will be the eighth charity in Canada to receive funding under PwC’s Young People Project. The YLN will be officially launched on Sunday, June 24th, 2018 when Legge along with 150 other youth, family and friends participate in the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon and 5km Charity Challenge as part of Team Cassie and Friends – an event PwC’s Vancouver office has supported for a number of years. 

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Background:

Cassie and Friends Society is a Vancouver-based charity working to transform the lives of kids and families affected by Juvenile Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases in BC and across Canada. Since 2007, we’ve raised over $2 million to fund child and parent support services, research, equipment, educational events and pediatric rheumatology programs.  Our vision is for a brighter future for kids with arthritis – one where children don’t have to spend countless hours treating their condition and aren’t confined to the sidelines in sports, school and even life. Even better, we’ll create a future where the need for children to undergo complex and costly medical interventions such as joint replacements, surgeries and aggressive, immune-suppressing medications like chemotherapy and biologics is eliminated forever.

About JIA: 

Approximately 24,000 children in Canada, or every 3 in 1000, have some form of arthritis or pediatric rheumatic disease, the most common being juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Approximately 60 percent of those children will have active arthritis into adulthood.

To join the Youth Leader Network, please visit:

http://www.cassieandfriends.ca/YLN

For more information or interview opportunities please contact:


Jennifer Wilson


Executive Director 


604.617.1382

jennifer@cassieandfriends.ca