Tanya Cassidy Irwin is a mother and Cassie and Friends community member from Langley, BC. This is her story of navigating pain, travel, medication and the unknown throughout her daughter Emily’s journey with Oligoarticular JIA. 

In September 2015 there was the most subtle of hitches in our daughter Emily’s step. Within three weeks she lost the ability to walk. No one could tell us what was going on and this unknown, combined with a battery of different testing, left us fearful for what might be found.

Seven weeks later, 2 1/2 years ago and just before her 2nd birthday, Emily was diagnosed with Oligoarticular JIA. Once diagnosed and placed on an anti-inflammatory she also received some steroids shots, as needed, at BC Children’s Hospital. It was really hard to watch her go under but after her initial injection on a Thursday morning she then began to walk on the Saturday. There may or may not have been parental tears.

Emily’s JIA was active but mostly controlled until January 2018. At that time she had two joints in a flare and her rheumatologist recommended starting oral Methotrexate, which we did. During a family vacation right after starting the new med Emily suffered a lot with joint pain and this greatly impacted her comfort on the plane and her ability to walk distances. She has seemed to be in the most pain she had experiences thus far on her journey with arthritis. Due to unsatisfactory results with the Methotrexate she had been in the process of being approved to take the biologic Enbrel and has just received her first dose. We hope that our needing to give our daughter an injection will lead to a positive outcome for her and that her JIA will once again be controlled and, hopefully, sent in to remission.