Alina

"Despite the challenges, I have always tried joining in every sports activity...JIA is like running your own race"

My name is Alina and I am now 24 years old. I'll be turning 25 in a few days time. I'm currently studying journalism at university. I was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis at the age of 2.

It was the start of spending a lot of time in hospital beds and having so many hospital visits. I would struggle to walk and my mum tells me that I would ask to go in the pram. 

I was in a lot of pain and my knees were swollen. My mum took me to the hospital in Essen, in Germany where we used to live. Then when we moved to England, I went to Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool. 

I've had a lifetime of medications and physiotherapy. 

Despite the challenges, I have always tried joining in every sports activity. Swimming and dancing are my two favourite sport activities. I find that ballet helps with my mobility. 

I'm still in touch with my three main best friends from high school. School was often difficult with JIA, and I would get called slow in PE classes. The way I have learnt to look at it is not to compare with others but instead JIA is like running your own race.

If you would like to share your JIA story, please get in touch.

If you are concerned that a child or young person may have JIA and would like to know more, please visit www.thinkJIA.org

For support at school, please visit our Parent Zone. Schools and universities can request an information toolkit to support children and young people with JIA in their setting at www.jarproject.org/schools 

Many of the resources we have developed can support children and young people at school and with explaining their condition to others such as our "I have JIA" cards. You can access these here.

For support with Mental health, please see our Mental health and wellbeing page here.  

You can also help us be there to make life better for children and families affected by JIA by supporting our work at www.jarproject.org/fundraising