Hand made toys to cope with Arthritis

Juliete’s mother taught her how to crochet at age eight. And the young girl wanted to have a toy that was like her, that had arthritis.

“After her diagnosis, she was really down. We went up north shortly after and she asked me if she could have a doll that had arthritis,” her mom Calesta says. “I went online and Googled everything I could think of but found nothing. There were toys with other conditions but none with arthritis”.

So Juliette started making her own toys, and she also wanted to make something that would help other kids suffering from this disease.

“They are like friends that kids can take to appointments, someone who is like them,” says the sixth grader, of Saline. “It makes me feel good that I can help other kids that are going through hard things too.”

Julliette has been donationg her inventions to other kids at Mott’s rheumatology clinic. She has donated dozens of animals so far, including dragons, snowmen, farm animals and even Star Wars characters like Darth Vader and Chewbacca.

The girl also created her own website so she can recruit other people to help her cause.

“Every time we hand one of these animals to a patient and tell them the animal ‘has arthritis’ too you can just see their faces light up,” says Juliette’s nurse practitioner Becky Thompson, of C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital’s rheumatology clinic.

More info: http://arthritisanimals.org/

Adapted from: http://uofmhealthblogs.org/childrens/hero-stories/arthritis-animals/26580/

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