Young ambassador ~ Seven-year-old

[Guest guest]

Young ambassador; Rowley's Blouin leading North Shore Arthritis Walk

www.newburyportnews.com/pulife/local_story_134232958.html?keyword=topstory

Seven-year-old Blouin has come a long way in just four years.

It wasn't all that long ago that the young girl who was diagnosed with

juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at age 3 couldn't get out of bed, never mind

walk or run with her older brother or her friends.

But ... walked with her team of supporters as one of the child

ambassadors for the sixth annual North Shore Arthritis Walk in Beverly.

" I hope when people see her, they know that children can get arthritis,

too, " said her mother, Joanne Blouin, of Rowley.

's mother, who works at Rheumatoid and Internal Medical Associates in

Willmington, said she first recognized her daughter's health problems

following a swimming lesson in late 2006.

" We noticed that her knee was swollen, " Blouin said. " Doctors originally

thought it was Lyme disease, but the tests came back negative. "

went to Children's Hospital in Boston, where she was referred to a

rheumatologist.

" She was just miserable, crying all the time, " her mother said.

Arthritis affects 46 million people in the U.S., including 300,000 children,

with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis one of the most common childhood

diseases, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Symptoms for children are

the same as adults and include joint inflammation, stiffening, bending of

the joints, joint damage and alteration or change in growth. But because the

disease affects each child differently, the symptoms vary.

The cause of most forms of juvenile arthritis is unknown, but it is not

contagious. And there is no evidence that foods, toxins, allergies or

vitamin deficiencies play a role, according to the Arthritis Foundation.

Blouin said her brother had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, but outgrew it.

" () has a severe form, " Blouin said. " She has it in all her joints. "

Since 's diagnosis, the Blouins said it has been trial and error to

find the right medications to handle the pain.

Initially, was required to take seven pills a day before she started

Enbrel injections, which her mother administers to her daughter once a week.

" We went through a lot of medications. They would work for three months,

then she was having a flare-up, and we would need something else, " Joanne

Blouin said. " We have been doing good on the injections for about a year. "

The Blouins hope participating in walks will help raise money to find a cure

for the disease.

" We had the first walk when () was first diagnosed, and it wasn't

exactly fun, " Joanne Blouin said. " I had been in adult rheumatology and knew

what was coming for her. I cried the whole time.

" But now it is fun. loves it, and they have a lot of crafts for kids. "

, a student at Pine Grove School in Rowley, is shy about her role as

ambassador but is excited for the walk.