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Juvenile Rhumetoid Arthritis FundraiserOur first annual charity carwash is over and we must say it went better than expected despite the weather. It was cold and raining and we still had a turnout of over 300 cars and between personal and corporate donations we managed to raise just over $5000 for the Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis program. Special thanks to to John Mamais from Western Pizza for donating all the free pizza gift certificates and season tickets to the riders which we drew for on June 10th (Congratulations to Andrew Wozniak), and to Laser Quest for donating all the free passes for prizes. Also to all the volunteers that made the day possible, especially Jenna and Jenna our bikini models who graciously showed up in the freezing cold and rain (click on the Bikini Pics link, the photos look great.) We managed to catch the attention of Samantha Maciag from the Leader Post who wrote the following article. Click Here Any donations anyone would like to make: DONATIONS CAN BE SENT TO: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100159408000&ref=nf About Samantha (By her mother Allison): Samantha is 3 1/2 years old and was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic
arthritis around her 2nd birthday. When she would wake up in the morning
her knees would be stiff, some days she would not be able to bend her
right knee at all, but she never complained about pain. We went to many
doctors and had ultrasounds, x-rays and plenty of blood taken and no one
seemed to know what the problem was. Then we went to a pediatrician, Dr.
Esselah he looked at Samantha for about 2 minutes and diagnosed her. He
said that we would have to get treatment immediately. He then referred us
to Dr. Rosenberg. Dr. Rosenberg is the pediatric rheumatologist in
Saskatchewan. He is based in Saskatoon at the University hospital and he
comes for clinics at the Regina Hospital once a month. We do not know very
much about this disease and they cannot give us very much information
because there is not one clear route it follows. After meeting with Dr.
Rosenberg he scheduled Samantha for treatment on December 18, 2007. They
injected medicine (aristospan triamcinolone hexacetonide) directly into
her knees and some of the smaller joints in her fingers. This medicine is
supposed to be similar to what the body makes to fight off inflammation.
She has not needed any additional injections which has been nice. She gets
blood taken twice a year and they are using some of this blood in two
research studies Dr. Rosenberg is involved with. The first project is
called REACCH OUT (Research on Arthritis in Canadian Children - Outcomes)
and they are gathering information about the characteristics of the
arthritis a child has and how those characteristics can influence the
course of outcomes of the disease. The second project is the BBOP study
(Biologically-Base Outcome Predictors), Which investigates how genetics,
environment, and lifestyle influence outcomes of childhood arthritis. We
are actually the first volunteers in Canada to be a part of the BBOP
study. We are hopeful that by finding out more about this disease the
doctors will be better equipped in helping us manage Samantha's arthritis.
It also could possibly help create better treatments. Samantha is doing
great after having the injections. She takes medicine daily to manage the
inflammation and pain. Samantha takes 3 ml of Naprosyn which is a
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, 3 times a day. She also takes 7.5 ml
of Methotrexate which is an antimetabolite, once a week. Methotrexate
interferes with the way cells utilize essential nutrients and as a result,
inhibits the activity of the immune system, consequently reducing
inflammation. As a cytotoxic drug it may slow the rapid growth of cells in
the synovial membrane that lines the joints. These medicines had helped
Samantha maintain an active carefree three year old lifestyle and we hope
that eventually this disease will disappear. |
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