Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a frustrating disease that touches a devastating number of lives. Two of my good friends were diagnosed with RA when they were very young (in their 20s!) and have struggled with RA for many years.
My friend Julie in Vancouver was hospitalized last fall when they discovered her white cell count was zero. Zero is bad. You need white cells in your body to fight a number of things including bugs. Unfortunately, most of the long-term treatment to keep the painful symptoms of RA at bay wreak havoc on your internal defense system.
Brandon’s sister cousin Sara has RA and the last year was particularly painful for her as she fought a number of infections, swallowed more antibiotics than you can name, and struggled with wounds that took forever to heal.
On May 1st, the 2010 Arthritis Walk will take place in Lincoln, NE.
Please consider sponsoring Sara as she walks for a cure.
Who do you know with RA?
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April 7th, 2010 at 8:22 am
It is such a great cause that I wish we could donate more to the situation and as soon as we are both in residency I know I WILL donate more. It is such a terrible disease, in fact my mom also has the disease and it is terrible for your liver and pancreas to take all the drugs that are required so she just deals with most of the pain. It is really a tough situation and I hope and pray that some sort of cure is found soon.
April 7th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Wonderful lady I know… by the age of 31, has had both hips and ankles replaced. Visiting her in the hospital is always grand, she’s the youngest person in her ward by about 50 years. I believe she’s on the waitlist to have one of her already-replaced ankles replaced again.
She loves to dance. :)