I can remember attending many birthday celebrations. I remember being that kid who's mum stayed and helped out as you never knew when my Juvenile Arthritis would become painful or swollen. I never stayed at sleep overs or at the celebrations for long as it was always too much on my tiny Arthritis crippled body. This lead to friendships being hard to maintain.
Why was this?
Juvenile Arthritis.
The only people I could trust that understood what was going on was my family.
I was so afraid that I'd hurt myself or suddenly everything to be painful and no one would be there to help me.
Being older and looking back, this is due to the lack of awareness there was and still is surrounding Juvenile Arthritis. Since beginning Kids Arthritis Australia I have learnt that I'm not the only one with the above problem. Children, their families and careers are hesitant to let go of their child living with Juvenile Arthritis as others don't understand what it's really like.
This is a National problem, that if not fixed will become worse in the future.
Being a kid is hard, but living with a hidden condition makes the easiest things in life, like attending your friends birthday party hard.
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