My son who is now in medical remission from SJIA and his sister who has juvenile arthritis (JA) enjoying healthy times at a recent baseball game.
I remember when my son was first diagnosed with an autoinflammatory illness, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA). It seemed like nothing was helping. It was very frustrating, not knowing what to expect, and not knowing why he wasn’t getting better. Surely the doctors can help him, can’t they? But nothing they did seemed to make a difference.
It became very difficult to hear stories of children who had been diagnosed more recently than my son, who were in medicated, or even unmedicated remission. I was jealous, and couldn’t stand to hear that someone else had what I was so desperately looking for.
But there is hope. I didn’t rest until the doctors found the right medicine to help him. I was a mama bear and persisted and now, he too is in medicated remission.
So if you’re struggling because things aren’t helping; if the treatment just doesn’t seem to be doing any good, keep pushing. Hopefully there is is a medicine out there that will help your or your child’s symptoms. If not, keep working for more research. There is hope. New medicines are being developed all the time.
Researchers are looking for a cure. When they make a discovery, often a new medicine is developed from that new knowledge. New resources are continually being introduced for the person whose symptoms are resistant to current treatments.
Don’t give up! There is always hope.
