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I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) when I was 31.  I had a very bad flare up.  My son and I had to live with my parents as I was immobile and unable to look after myself let alone care for him.  At the worst of my flare up I was completely immobile.  I needed help from family members to even use the bathroom and dress  and I spent all my time in bed or at the GP or Hospital.  My RA was particularly hard to diagnose as I have what is known as Seronegative Arthritis which means that the normal things they look for in blood tests to indicate RA does not show up in my blood so initially the doctors were not sure what was happening.  This was the scariest part of it all for me as I didn't know what was wrong with me and if this was going to be permanent.  Thankfully when I was diagnosed it gave a name to my condition and that helped me to understand what was happening and to give me something to fight.  At the time it felt like this was the worst thing in the world for me as I was 31 with a condition I thought that only old people had and I felt useless like a child as I couldn't do anything for myself.  I had previously swam for my university, played rugby and cricket and keep fit three times a week, and now I was unable to do any of this.   I was put onto a cocktail of drugs to try and attack the disease, but as RA is different for each patient it was a case of trial and error until we could find a mixture of drugs that would work for me.  I’m glad to say that eventually (after 6 months which is quite quick compared to other patients) thanks to my Rheumatology team at the hospital a mixture of drugs that suited me (one of which is also used as a chemotherapy drug to treat cancer) was found and I began to come out of the flare up, my RA even went into remission.  I stayed on this mixture of drugs for a long while but as is the nature of the beast they soon began to stop working and my doctors had to try and find another mixture of drugs that suited me.  I am glad to say that I am now on a mixture of drugs that seem to be working for me.  I still have symptoms and struggle to do certain things and I continue to have flare ups from time to time, but most of the time people look at me and don’t realise that there is anything wrong with me. 

I have decided that as I am doing well now I would like to give something back and to raise some money towards research into this debilitating disease.  I will be 40 on the 6^th February 2017 and it is my aim to raise £4000 by the time I am 40 for Arthritis Research UK to ensure they have some funding towards working on new methods of treatment for this condition and possibly one day a cure.

There will be loads of events over the next 2 and a bit years starting with me shaving my head on my 38th birthday on 6th February 2015.

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