Survivor Stories & Information

When I was 2 years old, I was first diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. After being in and out of remission for years, I got my first joint deformity in 2006 when I was 18 years old. I was on and off of medication like biologics, injections, infusions and steroids …

I came home from work one morning and my index finger hurt like hell, didn’t think much about it I get banged up all the time. I’m a paramedic for a busy 911 service and I work 24-hour shifts. I’m also a wife, mother of three young adults, and grandmother …

In 2014, I was a normal, everyday mother. I have 3 children. One who is grown, Ryan (23), and a now 17-year-old daughter, Marissa, and a 13-year-old Down Syndrome Daughter, Alexa. I was working toward my nursing degree, and I was 3 years into my pre-requisites. I had suffered with …

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been tired and achy. As a child I was told that eating better would give me more energy (I was a picky eater) or that the aches were simply growing pains. I would outgrow it, so they said. Flash forward to 2008. …

I was diagnosed with arthritis at the age of 2 at SickKids Hospital. I had it tough because I always loved the outdoors, but sometimes I wasn’t able to even walk from the pain. When I was only in elementary school my face used to get this red rash which …

My Name is Laura Kelly-Pifer and I have fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. I was diagnosed over 8 years ago and it’s been quite a journey. In the beginning, I experienced mild pain. Then over the course of the last few years, my pain increased. There were times that it would …

I am 28 years old, and to the world, I look perfectly healthy. Except for some very scary scars, you would never know how much my body has endured. At 16, I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, after the doctors first told me I had lupus. Not long after, I …

My name is Jessica Wright. You can call me Jessie. I was diagnosed with sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis just over a year ago after a long battle of going to doctors for the last 6 years, or a little more than that. I noticed my first symptoms over six years ago. …