Nine-year-old Calgarian Donates Birthday Money
July 5th, 2007 posted by SkGoldEthan and his mother Elsa, dropped by the Calgary office of The Arthritis Society unannounced on July 3 with more than $350 collected from Ethan’s birthday party.
“I wanted to donate to The Arthritis Society so that parents could know about arthritis and what happens,” said the nine-year-old. “I want people to feel better.”
Approximately five years ago Ethan was diagnosed with Polyarticular Juvenile Arthritis (JA) and since then, it’s left him virtually immobile at times. For Ethan, JA manifested itself in his shoulder blade, fingers, knees, and wrists.
“It started off with his hands,” said Elsa. “He’d keep them closed and he would never open them. He never wanted to colour and he’d say my hands are too soft to colour.”
She added that he didn’t gain weight and he was very tired.
“He started sleeping in until 10:30 a.m. and he wasn’t eating,” she said.
Luckily, it wasn’t long before he was put on medication that dramatically improved his condition and now Ethan is in remission and feeling better.
Ethan’s parents knew he wanted street hockey equipment for his birthday so that’s what they bought him, but rather than receiving more birthday gifts from his party, his parents suggested collecting money from his friends for a charity and to their surprise, Ethan suggested The Arthritis Society.
“I didn’t even think about it,” said his mom, Elsa. “But Ethan said he wanted other parents to know about this disease and that’s why he chose The Arthritis Society.”
Ethan still has flare-ups once in a while, but he’s doing much better, said his mom. With Ethan’s form of arthritis and severity, doctors think he has approximately 15 per cent chance of outgrowing the disease and he may have to continue medication into adulthood. But for now, he’s happy to be mobile and able to do the things he loves like play hockey and soccer.
“I can bend my leg and move my arms and straighten my fingers,” he said.
Ethan’s parents are amazed at the lack of knowledge surrounding childhood arthritis.
“We want parents to know about it,” said Elsa. “Nobody knows about JA – we didn’t even know about it, but I am amazed at the amount of people who have never heard of children getting arthritis.”
“Ethan’s money will go toward The Arthritis Society’s continued presence in this community,” said Adele MacDonald, Executive Director of The Society. “We were touched by this young man’s commitment to helping others with arthritis. It’s great to see what our community is willing to do to help other people.”
About Arthritis:
The Arthritis Society’s mission is to improve the quality of life for people affected by arthritis and to support proactive efforts directed toward prevention, diagnosis, treatment and a cure for arthritis.
For Media Information Contact:
Lori Crawford - Director, Marketing & Communications
The Arthritis Society – Alberta/NWT Division
403-228-2571 or lcrawford@ab.arthritis.ca
www.arthritis.ca
