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Meet Leia! At just a year old, Leia was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) and has been receiving treatment at Sheffield Children’s for over seven years. Now nine years old, Leia sat down with us and chatted all about how her treatment has helped her compete across all of her different sports.
After taking us through her large collection of medals, Leia was keen to point out that JIA has had little impact on her ability to move around whilst competing. Leia said: “It doesn’t really affect me when I’m doing sports, and the doctors always try to help me. I do archery, running, gymnastics, swimming, dancing, skiing, and I’m also about to start fencing too! There are more too, I really love doing sport.”
Typically thought of as a condition affecting older adults, arthritis can affect people of all ages. Dan Hawley, Consultant Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatologist at Sheffield Children’s since 2011, has been heavily involved in Leia’s care during her time at Sheffield Children’s. Dan said: “It’s really important to say that children can get arthritis too! Arthritis is not just a condition that older adults need to deal with. JIA affects roughly one in 1000 children and young people. Without early diagnosis and treatment, arthritis can become established and cause long-term damage to joints.”
As part of his role, Dan manages patients up to the age of 16 with conditions causing inflammation. The most common condition that he sees is JIA. Dan said: “Arthritis is a condition where inflammation affects joints. The two most common symptoms are joint stiffness and joint swelling, with joint stiffness being particularly common in the morning. If parents believe that their child might have JIA, they should seek out help in a timely way – seeing their GP is a good initial step.”
Dan was keen to highlight that children and young people with JIA are able to compete in high-level sport as a result of huge developments in treatment throughout recent decades. He said: “Twenty years ago, we had far fewer treatments for arthritis. However, as a result of huge advancements since the turn of the century, we can now have a zero-tolerance approach toward inflammation. For the majority of children and young people with arthritis, we can keep their arthritis quiet – so they can get on with their lives as if they didn’t have a diagnosis of JIA. We encourage all the children and young people that we see to be active, and we have a number of patients who go on to play sport and compete at a very high level!”
Leia has been interested in participating in sport for as long as she can remember and has always been active in all areas of life. Daniela, Leia’s mum, said: “Leia has always been very active, and I always found her running around and doing cartwheels and forward rolls at home. She has always been energetic, and we really wanted to find an outlet for her to compete. She has always been really enthusiastic about it.”
Alongside JIA, Leia has also been treated for uveitis at Sheffield Children’s since she was just two years old. It is common for people who have JIA to also have uveitis. Dan said: “Up to a third of children and young people with JIA may also get eye inflammation at some point. Uveitis, unlike JIA, is often a silent condition. When looking to diagnose JIA, children will often be aware of joint swelling and stiffness. However, because uveitis often occurs without any symptoms, it is important it is regularly looked for by an eye doctor (ophthalmologist), which is why all children with JIA are screened for uveitis.”
At Sheffield Children’s, we make sure that children and young people with JIA are screened for uveitis every three months. Dan said: “All of the children and young people that I see also have their eyes checked for uveitis. Many of them will never develop this, but some do. For those who develop uveitis, we move their care to our uveitis clinic, which is jointly run by an ophthalmologist and a rheumatologist. In the uveitis clinic we assess arthritis and uveitis jointly and make treatment decisions based on those two factors together. Our aim is always to find a combination of treatments which work for both arthritis and uveitis.”
Daniela was appreciative about the support that Leia has received from our rheumatology and ophthalmology services. she said: “The rheumatology team have supported us through, they’re all very nice and try to help and support us as much as possible. We’ve been in very often over the last few years and they have always tried to help us.”
Whilst Leia will continue to compete in her favourite sports, she is looking forward to trying new sports in the future. She said: “I really like gymnastics, running and swimming! I think my gymnastics is my favourite right now and my favourite thing about gymnastics is parallel bars. It’s really fun! I can’t wait to start fencing too, that’s the next sport that I have really wanted to try. Do sports, be determined, and practice all the time!”
We’d like to thank Leia, Daniela, and Dan for chatting with us, and wish Leia the best of luck in all of her future sporting endeavours!
Please visit our website for more information about juvenile idiopathic arthritis, uveitis, and our rheumatology team. If you suspect that your child might have JIA based on the above descriptions, we encourage you to visit your GP.
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