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Mover of the Month
My name is Tiffany Staats. I am 30 years old. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2010. While I still face challenges, I have improved dramatically in my level of energy and wellbeing since starting my treatment. I am so very grateful for the medical research that has led to effective medications and treatments. Please join an Arthritis Walk team or donate today to show your support for this wonderful cause. I believe that one day researchers will find a cure for arthritis, in all its forms, but first it starts right here by raising the money they need. Thank you!
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Your Stories Archive
Moving Communities
Autumn Ehnow, 33 - San Francisco, CA
For 23 years I have been able to count on the unpredictability of the debilitating, painful...
Jennifer Vido, 40 - Bel Air, MD
At the age of eight, I was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Even as a child, I...
Juliette Rizzo, 40 - North Bethesda, MD
The Arthritis Foundation has been moving with me since the doctor told my parents exercise was the...
Kelby, 24 - Denver, CO
It was the beginning of my freshman year that I started to experience pain. Things were new and...
Meredith Boyd, 33 - Atlanta, GA
Meredith's journey with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) began at age 15 as a sophomore at...
Motivational Movers
Andrea Dunn - Friendswood, TX
I knew something was wrong during college (in my 20s) when I couldn't pick up my pen to take notes...
Kaitlyn McDonnell, 10 - Bakersfield, CA
My daughter Kaitlyn was diagnosed with Systemic Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis in December 2009...
Esella Yeh, 2 - Dublin, CA
My name is Esella and I am two years old. In December 2010, just weeks after my second birthday, I...
Gavin Smith, 6 - San Antonio, FL
Gavin was diagnosed with JA when he was 21 months old. He is now 6 years old and has also...
Robyn Nichols - Wheaton, IL
Last Spring I had the honor of being chosen as DuPage County's Arthritis Walk for a cure Honoree....
Cathy McCarthy - Durham, NC
In June of 2009, I had both knees replaced (double TKA) because they had been completely eaten up...
Jamie Smith, 32 - Shallowater, TX
I am 32 years young with a fabulous, almost 7 yr old girl and my high energy, almost 3 yr old boy....
Anna Faust, 5 - Hudson, OH
My daughter, Anna, was diagnosed with JRA at the age of 2. She is now 5 and doing amazingly well....
Emily Tipton, 8 - Holiday, FL
My daughter, Emily, was diagnosed with RF+, poly-articular Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis on...
Nan Hart, 55 - Rutland, VT
As a 15 "veteran" of RA, I have found that the key to management that supersedes all others is...
Naysia Jackson - Chicago, IL
I was diagnosed in 2004 at the age of 19 years old. I visited several doctors before anyone was...
Julie Faulds - New Albany, IN
When I was living in Massachusetts, I did a lot of fundraising and walked the Avon Walk for Breast...
Dalston Bowman, 6 - Perry, OK
Dalston Bowman was 19 months old when he began to walk with a limp. We went to an orthopedist to...
Audrey Sawyer, 39 - Houston, TX
I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was 29 years old. Unfortunately, within one year...
Judy Noerling, 46 - Virginia Beach, VA
I didn't start walking until I was two years old. At this point, mom had to take me to several...
Jan Horn - Mobile, AL
When I started college I became crippled. I could not walk more than a few feet, my hands were...
Kelly Clayton,29 - Rockton, IL
In December 2001, approximately three months after my first son was born, I was officially...
Rebecca Zaraya, 68 - Boynton Beach, FL
I was always extremely active, then in 2004 I went to work, and suddenly I was not able to walk....
Sarah Kahler, 34 - Omaha, NE
After 6 months of terrible pain in my feet, toes, hips and knees I was diagnosed with RA in early...
Life-changing Movers
Danny Schromen, 31 - Dubuque, IA
When I was three years old my mother worked nights and when she came home from work she found my...
Julienne LaFitte Mireless, 64 - San Jose, CA
I have always been active, so it was difficult for me to accept the news when my doctor told me...
Marina Gensman, 56 - Leawood, KS
Hi! My name is Marina Gensman and I am a 56 year old woman with advanced osteoarthritis of the...
Paul Butler, 66 - Itasca, IL
I am looking at a picture of myself taken in the summer of 2005. At that time I weighed over 300...
Learning about You
Benjamen Dobbins, 9 - Aurora, CO
When I was five years old I began to notice that my knee would hurt. I told my mom and she would...
Amanda Rassett, 26 - Ingleside, IL
I was born at Iowa City hospital on January 26th 1985 as a healthy baby girl. I developed...
Angela Saoud - South Bend, IN
At the age of seventeen, I was diagnosed with Systemic Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. I had been a...
Olivia Blandina, 20 - Exeter, PA
It all started when I was my little sister's age, 13. All of my classmates in school were taking...
Araceli Maldonado, 28 - San Bernandino, CA
I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was 25.
Unfortunately, I was diagnosed after...
Alison Mann - Oklahoma City, OK
I never even knew about RA until I was diagnosed at the age of 22. No one in my family has or ever...
Arianna Naccarato, 14 - Algonquin, IL
Some time in 2006 I started to have trouble with my right wrist, lots of pain and swelling, and,...
Debbie Pettigrew, 43 - Fort Garland, CO
I was walking home from school in 1966, I was nine years old, and it was a warm, beautiful fall...
Gail Pizzigati, 51 - Oceanside, NY
I am 51 and have RA, fibromyalgia and CFS. I have had RA for 32 years. When I was diagnosed I...
Gavin Smith, 3 - Tampa, FL
When my son Gavin was 21 months old he woke up with a swollen knee. We took him to his...
Grace Gregg, 3 - Garfield Heights, OH
Grace was 18 months when she started complaining that her wrist hurt when wiping her hand and when...
Jordan Howe, 7 - Canyon Country, CA
One of the last things any parent wants to hear is that there is something wrong with their child....
Katherine Jean Bohanan, 71 - San Jose, CA
Segoli! My name is Katherine Jean Bohanan. I am Oneida Indian and “segoli” means hello in my...
Lora Veitenheimer, 56 - Council Bluffs, Iowa
In February of 2005 I lost my job because I could not keep up with the demands of working. My...
Melissa Diaz, 38 - San Juan, PR
In 2005 I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, I was 35 years old then, with a full blown...
Ruby Northcutt, 36 - Anderson, IN
Over the past few years I have undergone many injections, epidurals, and rhyzotomies to no avail...
Zachary Fuhrer, 12 - Carrollton, OH
My son, Zachary, has been diagnosed with JRA for almost 9 years now. He spent a whole year...
