Help millions of people live with less pain and fund groundbreaking research to discover a cure for this devastating disease.
July 2021 Arthritis News Roundup
The Arthritis Foundation is your trusted source for arthritis-related news and COVID updates that affect people with arthritis. Here’s a wrap-up of the headlines from this past month. The Latest in COVID-19 News & Arthritis Delta Variant Causing States & Counties to Consider Mask Mandates The highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 is causing concern across the U.S. as some states are seeing an increase in cases and hospitalizations. Some areas are considering mask mandates again, especially indoors. Stay up to date with your local health department guidelines and check the Arthritis Foundation’s website regularly for COVID-19 & Arthritis FAQs. Fauci: Immune Compromised May Need COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Dr. ...more
What chronic pain takes away, Vim gives back!
To kick off Arthritis Awareness Month in May, the Arthritis Foundation launched our new Vim app — a unique, personalized tool to help people with arthritis easily find resources they need to manage their pain. The app also helps keep track of conditions and treatments, set and achieve goals, and connect with others for tips and encouragement. The app stems from input received from 40,000 survey respondents in the Foundation’s ongoing Live Yes! INSIGHTS study, which is summarized in our How It Hurts report. As Vim was being developed, we sought extensive feedback along the way — from arthritis patients, health ...more
Close to the Finish Line: Funding our JA Kids' Futures
By Stephanie Livingston, Arthritis Foundation Advocacy Manager They say first impressions last a lifetime. The same applies to a child’s first interactions with a pediatric rheumatologist. After finding a diagnosis, it’s vital to work quickly as a team to find a treatment plan that slows disease activity as much as possible during developing years. I was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis (JA) when I was 12 years old, but there were hints of arthritis activity far earlier that were misunderstood as sports injuries. Misdiagnosis is common with JA, since pain and swelling can be misattributed to growing pains, injuries and other kid-related activities. ...more
The California Coast Classic Is a Family Affair for These Riders
Six Kennedys put their mettle to the pedal at this year’s 21st annual bike tour in support of family and millions who have arthritis. What has more than 500 wheels and legs, covers 525 miles in eight days and raises more than $1 million for arthritis? It’s the award-winning Arthritis Foundation’s California Coast Classic Bike Tour, presented by Amgen! This year’s 21st annual ride — along California’s iconic Pacific Coast Highway (California Highway 1) from San Francisco to Los Angeles — includes six members of one family. “Team Chrissie” members are four brothers and two sons — Philip, David, John, Charles, ...more
Life Threw Her a Curveball, but Jenna Becker’s a Slugger
Jenna Becker takes no days off, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She practices, trains and plays softball or volleyball every day. No one would guess she has battled juvenile idiopathic arthritis nearly all of her life. They only know her for fast-breaking curveballs and hard-hit overhand serves. Today, Jenna’s primary position is pitcher. She also plays first and third bases and is confident she can play any position her coaches need. “It’s unusual for a player with JIA in their wrists and fingers to become a pitcher, but I wanted to prove that I could do it,” she ...more
Aspen Finds Her Peace and Place Living With JA
Daughter of Chil Wellness founder has made major progress, thanks to her dad’s natural solutions. At just 15 months old, Aspen DeMeritt of Malibu, California, started limping after getting up from naps. A few months later, she had shooting pain in her legs that made her unable to stand. She was soon diagnosed with juvenile arthritis (JA) and was put on multiple medications to control her inflammation. JA, affecting 300,000 kids in the U.S., can cause the immune system to mistake healthy cells and tissue as foreign substances, causing inflammation. The disease ranges in severity and can lead to not only serious ...more
Arthritis Foundation Champion Scholarships for Deserving Students
At the Arthritis Foundation, we are proud to support the rising generation as it joins the movement to help conquer arthritis for good. Every year, we award $5,000 college scholarships to deserving students who have arthritis or a related rheumatic disease. Recently, 14 additional scholarships were funded for 2021-22 by the Ruth Lape Scholarship of the Lichliter Charitable Trust, meaning that even more applicants will now receive awards. The 2021-22 Arthritis Champions Scholarship program is funded by the Walter J. and Kathryn M. Winterhoff Endowed Scholarship Fund, Dr. Smriti Bardhan College Scholarship Fund, Alpha Omicron Pi and the Ruth Lape Scholarship ...more
Arthritis-Related Conditions
By Julie Eller, Live Yes! With Arthritis Podcast Co-Host An arthritis diagnosis comes with so many questions. How can I manage my pain? What should I do about my morning stiffness? What treatments will work best for a patient like me? Sometimes it is hard to know if you’ve asked all the right questions of your doctor. One question that many people don’t realize they need to ask is, “What other diseases do I have to worry about now that I’m living with arthritis?” Unfortunately, when you live with arthritis you are at a greater risk of developing other conditions as well. Whether ...more