For her entire school-aged life, Brittney Urban has felt puzzled eyes upon her of classmates who didn’t understand why she sometimes sat out of gym class, why she sometimes couldn’t keep up with the rest of the runners, why she had trouble getting up after sitting awhile. After all, there are no outward signs that she has any type of disability.
When the 16-year-old Highland High School student tells her friends she has arthritis, they give her a scrutinizing look. “Isn’t that an old person’s disease?” they ask.
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease which causes swollen and inflamed joints, affects about 50,000 children in the U.S. Nearly 300,000 suffer from some type of rheumatic condition. The myth that arthritis doesn’t happen to kids often results in delayed diagnosis and treatment for children with the disease, as well as a lack of understanding, as Urban has experienced firsthand.
Never knowing a life without arthritis, Urban takes the inconveniences like a champ. The disease has been a way of life for her since she was 2, when her mother first noticed a curious lump on her ankle.
Though she recognizes her limitations, she doesn’t let the condition stop her from participating. Music and drama are her passions, but she’s played softball and volleyball with the best of them, even though her classmates never much understood why she occasionally has an off day or why Mom once had to carry her and her painful joints to the car after a game.
But for one week every summer, Urban attends a camp where she doesn’t have to worry about what other kids will think or whether the day’s activities will put undue stress on her joints. For that week, she doesn’t have to utter an explanation for why she needs to rest or why she takes a particular medication. And though they don’t really talk about arthritis, the campers all understand, because they are all coping with the same type of condition.
“Everyone understands,” Urban says. “They don’t, like, whisper to each other, ‘What’s wrong with her? Why isn’t she playing?’”
Open to children aged 8 to 17 with arthritis and related conditions, Camp J.A.M. (Juvenile Arthritis and Me) is an environment where rest and medication are part of the day’s normal schedule. Kids enjoy activities such as arts and crafts, archery, boating, swimming, canoeing and more with a nurse standing by and rheumatologist on call.
“Make sure you keep going but know your limitations,” Brittney advises other kids with arthritis. “Don’t go overboard and hurt yourself. Keep doing what you want to do no matter what. Don’t let the disability stop you.”
Erika Rose is a freelance journalist who primarily covers health news in Northwest Indiana. Erika and her husband Kevin live in Highland with their two girls (Morgan, 9, and Alexandra, 7).
