Affects all ages
Fundraising to fight the pain of arthritis in Summerside
Mary Ann O’Halloran and her young sons, Jacob and Logan MacDonald, who both suffer from juvenile arthritis, joined the Walk to Fight Arthritis.
Many people think arthritis is a condition that affects only adults.
For nine-year-old Jacob MacDonald and his seven-year-old brother Logan, much of their young lives have been spent with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), a non-hereditary, autoimmune disease. There is no known cause for the disease, and there is no cure – but there is hope.
“It’s important to bring awareness that this happens to children and not just adults,” said their mother, Mary Ann O’Halloran. O’Halloran and her family joined the Walk to Fight Arthritis that kicked off at 11 a.m. on Summerside’s Waterfront Boardwalk, Sunday.
Dealing with arthritis is difficult because the signs are often
invisible. “Logan would be sore and not be able to move. He would cry and scream in pain with no outward signs, so we
took him to the emergency doctor and he suggested that it may be arthritis, and it went from there,” said O’Halloran. “The disease crept up and hit fast.”
A few years later O’Halloran’s older son was also diagnosed. “My other son had a really sore back and his neck was very sensitive. It turned out he had arthritis.”
Much of their life has involved the IWK hospital in Halifax.
“Many of us don’t think of children having arthritis, and I was completely ignorant to this before. It’s difficult as a family because we are limited to activities with their health, but we’re very fortunate with the IWK hospital constantly being involved, so the two boys are well maintained and just like every other child.”
She continued, “It’s something you take for granted when you have a healthy child who can run and walk, but if you are positive and have the health resources, it can make things easier.” Organizer of the Summerside Walk to Fight Arthritis location, Hailey Arsenault says her grandfather suffered for 30 years with the disease.
“He was tough and never complained about anything, so we didn’t know how bad things were until it was at the final stages,” Arsenault said.
Pain, stiffness and swelling of joints are some of the symptoms of arthritis that make mobility difficult. “Mobility was a huge issue because we had to plan out almost three days in advance what he was going to do. For example, if he needed to see a doctor we would plan what pills he would need, who would drive him, and that kind of stuff.”
Arsenault concluded, “It’s not such a big deal when you love that person, it’s more about understanding what they are going through.”