Arthritis Care

If you’re a parent you’ll know that “terrible twos” moment when your child goes rigid and screams.   That’s what Dan Venables did when Tee, his Mum, went to tuck him into bed.  “I only touched his leg so I knew there was something terribly wrong,” she remembered.  “It was a cry of real pain.”

Tests confirmed what their GP feared.  Dan had Juvenile Arthritis.  Now 16, life’s been a struggle for him.  He has difficulty using his hands and walking and can’t do PE.   And frustratingly for a teenager who wants a busy social life, the pain means he has to constantly rest.  “If he wants to go out with his mates,” explained Theresa, “he has to rest from the day beforehand.”  Magic and Choc, the family dogs, keep him company when his Mum and sister are at work and school.

But Dan, from Sarisbury Green, Hampshire, refuses to let his arthritis hold him back.  Remarkably, his favourite activities are rock climbing, archery and kayaking.  He does weight training to keep his upper body strong. “Dan grabs life to the full,” Tee said proudly.  “He wants nothing more than to become a kayak instructor.”

Even walking to school with his friends is difficult.   But despite the pain and the fatigue, Dan got two GCSEs two years early getting two A+s.

National charity, Arthritis Care, pays Dan’s expenses so that he can do his sports.  Now Theresa wants to say thank you by running in the 2012 London Marathon on Sunday, 22 April 2012.  She’s preparing by jogging every day with the dogs.  Friends have organised a disco, a car boot sale, a fete and she’s already got pledges of over £2000.

If you would like to support Tee, you can make a pledge on http://www.supportarthritiscare.org.uk/event/virginlondonmarathon2012

For more information about Arthritis Care visit www.arthritiscare.org.uk.  Or ring 0808 800 4050.

We’ll let you know she got on in the next edition of R Magazine and online.