CureArthritis

From a very young age my body has always been my enemy. On March 7th 2004 I was diagnosed with JIA (juvinille idiopathic arthritis) at the age of one years old. I’ve never known a life without the doctors, infusions, medication, physical therapy. Before I could talk I would cry in pain. It got worse and worse and spread through out my joints. It still effects my ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, and shoulders. By age three I had to quit preschool and was put in a wheel chair and braces on my legs. At the some time at my all time low so far in my journey with arthritis I became diagnosed with Uveitis, which is the same as , although it is in my eyes. With both the flare in my joints and eyes by age four we learned what steroid injections were. We began those procedures every six months to keep flares under control. This lasted about two years, and by age six i was walking on my own two feet with the help of steroids and steroid eye drops to keep everything in control at that moment. I took about four pills daily, and had been on and off shots or infusions. At this point i had been doing pretty well, still aches and pains throughout my days and struggling to grow up with this disease. For about five years (I know it was crazy amazing) I was doing alright. At age twelve, I had the worst flare in both eyes and joints in my entire life. I was back in a wheel chair for almost nine months. more steroid injection surgery’s, higher doses on medication, more steroids (FYI cause a ton of weight gain). Age thirteen was an okay year, continuing the steroid injections and my infusions every four weeks. At fourteen, i found out the worst news of my life. With , i normally get stiffness, aches, pains, but never what I soon experienced. The locking, catching, not being able to straighten my leg got to a point where i was stuck and had to go to the emergency room. We found out that my cartlidge was breaking down and floating in my knee catching it. They had to remove five inches of cartlidge from my knee, and clean it out. This destructive disease has caused my left knee to be bone on bone, and in a wheel chair once again. On my fifteenth birthday, they told me that i would get a knee replacement in the next two years, also that my knees would be doing okay if i was a sixty-five year old man. (SIXTY-FIVE!!!!!) I never realized how much damage was really happening to my body. Today i’m still working on physical therapy, infusions every four weeks, seven different pills, severe pain, flare in joints and eyes.

But this is my story as far as my journey has lead me, and today as of right now I can stand on my own two feet and say that I am a JIA warrior #CureArthritis