The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child. Chrissy Rose had always known that statement was true, but when her toddler son, Carson, was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis (JA) at 15 months, she felt it even more acutely.

“We hardly understood that our child could have arthritis, let alone knew anyone else who was dealing with it,” recalls Chrissy. “We were a little lost.”

After moving from Ohio to Indiana far away from most of their family and friends, the Roses connected with their local Arthritis Foundation in Indianapolis. While they formed a small team for their first event– the Indy Walk to Cure Arthritis — they found inspiration to expand their team and fundraising efforts for the next year’s walk.

Continue readingExpanding their Village: Carson and the Arthritis Foundation→

和很多三岁的孩子一样，卡森还在努力发“th”的音，所以当他说到关节炎时，听起来更像是“arfritis”也就不足为奇了。令人惊讶的是，他居然还要谈论关节炎。

Diagnosed withjuvenile arthritis (JA)when he was just 15 months old, Carson is just one of nearly 300,000 children who have JA. Carson’s arthritis is polyarticular, which means it affects five or more joints. While Carson initially struggled mostly in his knees, he also has limited mobility and increased pain in his wrists. While you’d think that pain would be a clear indicator of arthritis, for Carson and thousands of other children, getting a diagnosis was not that simple. The myth that arthritis is only for older people persists.

Continue readingWhen Being a Child Hurts: Even Medicine Can’t Make it All Better→