    Click on the names below for more info Now aged four, Arabella Wallwork has suffered from arthritis since she was just 18 months old but she is still up for a challenge! Caitlin Thackray is aged five and her arthritis was triggered by a viral infection when she was only two years old. After years of painful struggle, Elice Corner's life was turned around when she started taking etanercept, one of the new anti-TNF therapies developed by arc scientists. Oliver Hankinson was only four when he developed arthritis; suffering so much pain and swelling in his left knee that he could barely walk. Now five, Honor Byrne from Dumbarton has had arthritis since she was about 16 months old. Although she still occasionally needs to use her pram, medication and physiotherapy mean that Honor is making good progress. |
  When Elice became ill as a toddler, she was seen by doctors in Scarborough and Hull who said there wasn't much wrong with her. This went on for about three years, much to the distress of her parents. The little girl was very poorly could hardly move, and couldn't open her mouth because her jaw was so stiff. She was finally diagnosed with childhood arthritis and put on steroids which helped but which also caused her to gain a lot of weight. Things changed when she started taking etanercept, one of the new anti-TNF therapies developed by arc scientists. "As soon as she started taking it, it turned her life around," says her dad. She's been on this drug for four years and her condition remains well under control. "To look at her now you would hardly know there was anything wrong with her," he adds. Elice is now 12, and very active, enjoying sports, particularly swimming and dancing. In 2005 she won the Yorkshire TV Young Achievers Award for her fundraising efforts at the 2005 arc Noddy Walk in Hull!  |
