With Pain, Some Gains

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With Pain, Some Gains

Nine-Year-Old Seeks Help for the 300,000 Kids With Arthritis

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/07/AR2008040702140.\

html

Terry sits on the floor during a tiring day at the U.S. Capitol. The

Woodbridge fourth-grader hopes that lawmakers will approve more funding for

research on juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

tells mean kids: " Hey, I have arthritis. I know you don't know what

that means, but if you had it you'd probably cry. "

Terry is like any other fourth-grader -- except when he's not. Yes, he

plays basketball and baseball, loves pizza (with sausage) and longs for a

dog. But he also has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which leaves his joints

so swollen and painful at times that he lies in bed and cries.

's parents were stunned when his condition was diagnosed at age 2. " Like

many people, I thought: Kids don't get arthritis, " father Reggie Terry says.

But they do. About 300,000 kids in the United States have arthritis

(pronounced are-THRITE-iss). , who is 9 and lives in Woodbridge, has

become a spokesman for them, going with his parents to Capitol Hill recently

to urge lawmakers to fund research aimed at finding a cure.

Juvenile arthritis is " very difficult to diagnose, " says Patience White, a

physician who works for the Arthritis Foundation. " A doctor has to make sure

the symptom the young person is having isn't related to other things. "

Sharp Pain, Sharper Comments

When 's immune system goes haywire -- attacking the tissue that lines

his joints -- he feels pain in his knees, ankles, elbows, neck and back. " It

hurts really bad, " he says. The stiffness even changes the way he walks.

To beat the disease, a person needs to stay active.

" In basketball, I score a lot of points. In baseball, I can hit hard and am

good at catching. I like golf, too, " says. He is able to play sports in

part because of medication that keeps his joints mobile and his muscles

strong.

has learned to handle stares and the occasional mean comment at school.

" It's real hurtful and stuff because there's not anything I can do about

it, " he says. If someone gives him a hard time, " I'm like, 'Hey, I have

arthritis. I know you don't know what that means, but if you had it you'd

probably cry.' "

The Arthritis Foundation helped the Terrys understand and manage his

condition. and his brothers -- Tony, 17, and 14 -- go on

fundraising walks, and has become a forceful spokesman for people with

the disease.