Juvenile Arthritis

A Childhood Illness That’s More Common Than You Think

By Amanda McGregor

Meghan Kynett, 14, doesn’t let her juvenile arthritis interfere with two of her loves – playing soccer and riding horses.

Camryn Connolly’s disease struck without warning when she was 2½ years old. “She woke up crying and she couldn’t walk,” her mom, Mary Connolly, recalls. “We picked her up and put her on the floor, and she pretty much collapsed.”

Mary and her husband, Eric, rushed Camryn to the emergency room, where doctors determined that she probably had a virus. But for six years, Camryn suffered agonizing joint pain and gastrointestinal issues, and her family endured harrowing medical tests for conditions that ranged from Lyme disease to cancer.

“I remember when she was at preschool, some days I would literally have to carry her out of school. It was heartbreaking,” says mom Mary Connolly. “We kept a log of when she was feeling bad. Some days, her joints were swollen and red and she couldn’t get out of bed. One minute she was fine, the next minute she was throwing up before school in the parking lot.”

Camryn was 8 when she was finally diagnosed with spondyloarthropathy, a form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Her parents said the diagnosis brought a mix of relief and anguish, and forced them to educate themselves about a disease they had never heard of.

“Almost my entire family and all my friends were shocked to hear that children can get arthritis,” Mary says. “People think it’s an old person’s disease.”