Health
By Naomi Creek
A
s a parent, you naturally want the best life for your child. But just say, out of the blue, they developed a disease that would affect them for the rest of their life?
This is what happened to me, when I was a healthy 10-year old girl, then one day started getting sore feet and legs. These unusual symptoms for such a fit and flexible girl started getting in the way of my active life. For a number of years, the doctors dismissed my symptoms as ‘growing pains’, but they gradually became more frequent, until one day, I simply couldn’t stand up. My legs wouldn’t hold me. I spent a week in hospital while they did lots of blood tests, x-rays and examinations before coming away with my diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). I was put on a regime of medications to help with the inflammation and pain and was told that I may grow out of it. As I was so young, I really didn’t understand what I had and how it would end up shaping my life. It was also difficult for my family and friends to understand, as it seemed uncommon for a child to have arthritis. It was 1982 after all, with no internet or information readily available about how to cope or manage with such an illness. So, I struggled through high school with a great deal of pain and uncertainty but with the optimism that one day it would go away. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me and now 36 years on, I still live with the condition. I’ve had a number of joint replacements on both knees and hips and my shoulder. These have given me back my mobility, however as my condition affects almost every joint in my body, I still need to take medications to prevent the RA from progressing and damaging my joints, and to help with daily pain. I also live a very healthy lifestyle of eating well, keeping fit with yoga and reducing stress, to keep my body in the best state possible.
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Peninsula Kids – Summer 2018/19