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Choice & Control: Guestpost and Giveaway

Greetings from the blog tour trail! I liked it so much the first time that I went on a virtual tour to celebrate the holidays. Several months ago, I met Kim P. Miller, author of Living with Juvenile Arthritis: A Parent’s Guide.. We come at life with inflammatory arthritis from opposite directions. I’ve lived with juvenile arthritis since I was a child and she is the mother of two boys who have JA. Reading her blog is at once familiar and brand-new. So much has changed since I was a child with JA and yet, much as they the same, as well. When she asked me to do a guest post on what parents can do to help their children transition into adults, I jumped at the chance. We also decided to give away a copy of Your Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Tools for Managing Treatment, Side Effects and Pain. Deadline to enter is December 19.

“I don’t remember a time before juvenile arthritis.

The first symptoms appeared when I was four years old. For a long time, only two joints were affected, but by the time I hit puberty, my JA went supersonic. This was in the 1970s, before effective treatments and my body bears the marks of uncontrolled disease. By the age of 16, I lef t the hospital after a four-year stay with two hip replacements and a power wheelchair. My parents were determined that I have as normal a life as possible. Their help and encouragement sent me on the path to create the kind of life I wanted, one that in many ways is remarkably normal. When Kim asked me to write a guest post about how parents can help their children with JA transition into adults, I knew exactly what to tell you.

It’s all about choice and control.”

You can read the rest of the post and enter the giveaway on Kim’s blog.”