In primary school, Cait Reid experienced severe pain and a tendency to break bones but it took a social media post to direct her to the right doctor and be diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
A submission by Heather Reid, Cait's mother, called on the government to promote greater awareness of the condition in both the medical and general communities."It's really important that children are diagnosed early if they have this, and have access to those medications that can interrupt the progression of the disease," Ms Reid said.Heather and Cait Reid hope the parliamentary inquiry leads to more awareness.
Ms Reid said she had been growing concerned that Cait was falling over a lot and experiencing a lot of pain. "She was really active, she played basketball and netball, did gymnastics, loved parkour, and here she was, all of a sudden, not able to coordinate herself," she said.It was a post on social media, raising awareness for juvenile arthritis, that finally led Cait's family to a doctor who could diagnose her condition."It took me a couple of days to get around that and then we went to the GP and asked for a referral to a specialist.
"When you think of arthritis, you think of crippled hands and old people, so I was definitely very, very confused by it," she said.Ms Reid hoped increased awareness would lead to more funding for paediatric rheumatologists and other medical staff, especially in regional areas."A lot of people aren't aware that some people don't even get diagnosed with it, so they can't get proper treatment," she said.
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