Tuesday 13 March 2012

3 Year old daughter with juvenile arthritis is only half the fight!

My 3 year old daughter also has arthritis, she has poly articular juvenile arthritis. After dealing with arthritis for nearly 10 years, I had a rough idea of the struggles she would go through, but I didn't realise struggle it is for a parent looking after a child with arthritis. The daily care is something that doesn't bother us, that is something we would do for our children no matter what. The biggest struggle we have is trying to get health care and education specialist to give our daughter the support she really needs.

Arthritis is massively misunderstood in adults let alone children, one health care specialist even compared my daughters arthritis to another child suffering from tonsillitis! These kind of comments really are not helpful, in reality they belittle the daily struggle an arthritis sufferer goes through daily.

Our latest battle is to try and get our daughter a learning support assistant for her at school. and it looks as though it could be a real battle. Plenty of people are saying that she needs the help, but everyone is pointing at each other when it comes to funding this, and no one wants to take responsibility. We are made to feel like a massive burden and at times second class, as we require extra help to get her into the school system. Schooling is a basic thing in life and is something every child needs, all we are asking for is an assistant to help her in the first few months as she gets knocked over very easy, this has left her to struggle to adapt to new surroundings and people.

 After speaking to people in similar situations I realise that as a family, we are not the only ones going through this type of struggle. Because of financial cuts throughout the UK, many people face a struggle to get help and access to services that they really need, many face bigger struggles than we are facing at the moment.

Later in the year, when the Olympics start and you see the UK lit up and glorified, keep in mind that behind the fireworks and celebrities that thousands of real families face a struggle to get the basics in life through no fault of their own. Its families like ours that this government want to pretend don't exist, all in the hope that we don't need any financial help or support. How proud this coalition government must be of themselves.

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