By Rebecca Birt It is hard to believe that at 21, Heather has been living with arthritis for 5 years now. When she was diagnosed at the young age of sixteen, she felt her life was over. “I remember thinking to myself how it was an elderly people problem, how they struggled to move around and do day to day things, I didn’t want that to happen to me.” |
Heather has a type of arthritis called rheumatoid arthritis, or RA for short, which is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints in her body causing inflammation, stiffness and pain. Over 400,000 people suffer from RA, but it is rare to find in children and teenagers.
She first discovered something wasn’t right when her left knee began swelling for no apparent reason. “It kept on getting bigger and more painful, until it was obvious to everyone that it wasn’t going to go away on its own.” Heather recalled.
Repeated visits to the GP came back with nothing, and it wasn’t until it spread to her elbow joints and her leg couldn’t bend fully anymore that the doctors considered RA could be the cause. The minute they said arthritis Heather and her family were stunned. “I don’t think I understood when I was diagnosed the extent of the problem, or how much it could affect me if it was left untreated.” What followed was a variety of treatments, some which were effective and some which made no difference. One of the treatments included a small chemotherapy drug, which was used to lower the immune systems attack response to her affected joints. “That was one of the worst treatments, I was doing my A levels and I sometimes felt really ill and some of my hair began to fall out, neither of which helped my stress levels at the time!” | FACTS ABOUT RA: - Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, which means a person’s immune system is wrongly attacking a part of the body, in this case joints. - It can be very difficult to diagnose, and if left untreated for too long it can cause permanent joint damage. - Symptoms include swelling, a ‘burning’ feeling in the affected joints and pain when moving. - What causes the immune system to attack the joint tissues is unknown, however it is strongly linked to genetics and people are more likely to be affected if they are female. - Treatments include medicines, physiotherapy and sometimes surgery. Sources: NHS and NRAS |
However the treatment helped massively, and now she only uses a fortnightly injection to keep the arthritis at bay, which without she says it could easily go back to how bad it was before.
Despite having RA, it hasn’t stopped her achieving her goals, and after graduating from the University of Manchester she has started her career as a children’s nurse at a nearby hospital.
“I wanted to do nursing, and to be able to help children who might be going through the same stuff that I did is one of the best feelings.”
Heather can’t play some sports or run long distances because of her RA but so long as she can walk and be pain free she says that is all that matters.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness week begins on the 15th June, for more information visit http://www.nras.org.uk/
Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness week begins on the 15th June, for more information visit http://www.nras.org.uk/