Programme Five: "Growing Pain"

Last Programme in Series

Jerry Drumm hasn't one gray hair in his head, nor is there a trace of a wrinkle on his face. Why would there be - Jerry is only 10 years of age. Some would say that "it's just a sign of old age, it can come to us all", but for some it comes sooner than you could imagine. Jerry has juvenile arthritis. Juvenile Arthritis is a cruel fate for a child. This is Me - Growing Pain will show how a Jerry Drumm copes admirably with his disease.

Born in Donegal in 1999, Jerry was like any another young boy. One summer's evening his parents Feargal and Lurleen were driving from visiting relatives and a rash kept appearing, disappearing and then reappearing all over Jerry's body. She immediately thought it was meningitis as she grabbed Feargal's glasses from his head to do the test, "it was the only glass in the car". They sat by Jerry's bedside in Letterkenny Hospital for six weeks. The weight was falling off him and the doctors just couldn't discover what was wrong. They feared the worst. Then they transferred him to Our Lady's in Crumlin. In two days they confirmed Jerry had arthritis.

Lurleen, 39 has cerebral palsy and arthritis. She was determined to make sure Jerry's life was very different to hers. Lurleen brought great strength and forward thinking in teaching Jerry to live with his arthritis. The Drumm's moved to Letterkenny in 2008; up until then they had been living in Donegal town. Jerry's doctors were in Letterkenny. They faced 100km around trip every couple of weeks and sometimes days; it made sense for them to move. It made even more sense as Jerry's younger brother Daniel was diagnosed with Arthritis at three months. "We diagnosed Daniel ourselves, we recognized all the signs from Jerry", says Feargal. Jerry and Daniel are very close, "I help Daniel with his exercises on the Wii. I make sure he does them, they are very important to both of us".

Jerry is a very caring young boy; he takes great pride in everything that he does. "I will be getting my own room when we move to our new house in May and mum will have purpose built kitchen it will be brilliant." His alarm goes off every morning at 7am. "I usually lie in bed for a few minutes and then I think about getting up". His legs can be stiff in the morning so he needs a bit of time to get himself out of bed. Jerry's main pain is in the joints of his fingers and knees. "I can't tie my shoelaces so I wear runners and shoes with no laces". He has trouble holding pencils so he uses grips or extra chunky pencils. "I sometimes loose the power in my grip for no reason which can be very annoying".

Not been classified as different is very important to Jerry, and when he started in his new school he told his class mates about his arthritis. They told him their granny's and grandad's had it. He told them I had it as well and so does his granny! Jerry has a lot to cope with. He is extremely independent and knows how to look after himself. He had a setback a few weeks ago. "Jerry's pain threshold is enormous and the pain from the appendix was dangerously high when we took him to the hospital", says Lurleen. Twice a year the Drumm's must make the 500km round trip to Our Lady's in Crumlin for a twenty minute appointment. "Mum isn't able to drive and dad has to work so we have to go on the bus". There is only one pediatric rheumatologist in Ireland, waiting lists are long.

Despite everything they are a very positive family. "We look at what each of us can do rather than focusing on what we can't", says Lurleen. Jerry's motto in life is "use it or lose it".

For more information on Juvenile Arthritis please contact:

Arthritis Ireland
1 Clanwilliam Square
Grand Canal Quay
Dublin 2
Tel: 01 6618188
Email: info@arthritisireland.ie
Website: www.arthritisireland.ie