Sudbury family brings awareness to juvenile arthritis

A Sudbury family is spreading the word about a little-known condition that affects many young people: juvenile arthritis.

At just 10 months old, Olivia Horodziejczyk started showing signs of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, including stiffness in her neck, not being able to move her knees and pain and fatigue.

Her mother, Jordan Horodziejczyk, said the change was startling.

“Going from being a happy kid, you know, standing, almost walking to then kind of regressing all the way back and just wanting to be held all the time,” she said.

The Sudbury family spent a lot of time in walk-in clinics and with their family doctor searching for answers.

“We were very fortunate that we (were) able to quickly be referred to the visiting rheumatologist that came to Sudbury and they have been amazing,” Jordan said.

Olivia was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis by Dr. Molly Dushnicky, a pediatric rheumatologist at McMaster’s Children’s hospital who visits Sudbury three times a year.

Dushnicky said one of the biggest challenges for patients in the north is access to care.

“We see about 30 patients in a two-day period but outside of that timeframe, we’re heavily dependent on the amazing family doctors and pediatricians that do their best to help us manage patients,” she said.

Dushnicky said one of the reasons she’s so passionate about care in the north is because she was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis when she was 18 months old.

“I actually grew up in a northern Ontario community in Thunder Bay so (I) recognize how challenging it can be for families to access … specialty care in the north,” she said.

Thanks to proper treatment, Olivia is not only walking again, her mother said her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter is thriving.

“We know that this disease can have a lot of periods of, you know, remission and then worsening and flare-ups,” Jordan said.

“We don’t really know where we’ll be heading and the direction that we’re going but right now, I mean, she’s doing so well.”

March is Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month and both woman said it’s important to shed light on the disease.

Dushnicky said one of the biggest myths about the disease is that only older people get arthritis.

“Which is absolutely not true,” she said.

“One to three in 1,000 kids in Canada live with juvenile arthritis.”

Data from Cassie and Friends shows the autoimmune disease affects more than 25,000 children in Canada, with many diagnosed between the ages of two and four.