When arthritis hits a young person, it is called "juvenile" arthritis. Cindy thinks she had the condition in her system long before her bike accident. She remembers, when she was little, that her legs would hurt just before it rained. Cindy thinks that her fall triggered the arthritis. Juvenile arthritis can be very painful. For most people the pain begins to lessen at about the age of 19. But the physical problems caused by the disease last forever.

After her fall, Cindy's arthritis grew worse. It soon affected nearly her whole body. It became hard for her to do things for herself. Even simple things like dressing or brushing her teeth took a long time.

Cindy missed a lot of school. Once she stayed in the Janeway Children's Hospital for a whole month. Every three months she went to the Children's Rehabilitation Centre for assessment. But her arthritis got worse. Doctors gave her gold injections.³ Sometimes she took as many as 14 aspirins a day. Nothing seemed to work. Her body grew stiff. She moved very slowly.

Even though her arthritis made things difficult, Cindy did not give up on life. She worked hard and finished high school with honours. Then she decided to try university. In her first year, the university arranged to have all of Cindy's classes in the same building. This made it easier for her to get to class on time. But it was still hard for her to get around. She was also very self conscious. The university was filled with thousands of young people—people who had no trouble crossing the university campus. People who could run up three flights of stairs. "I was always wondering what the other students were thinking of me," she says.

During this time Cindy shared a house with four female students who were also from Twillingate. They were nervous about living with Cindy. They wanted to know how much help she would need with her day to day activities. "I told them I only needed help with my shoes," she says. "But that wasn't true. There were many things I couldn't do. I had trouble cooking and putting on some of my clothes. I guess I was afraid to tell the girls at the beginning. Anyway, once they found out, they didn't seem to mind helping me. At least not too much."

Cindy dropped out of university after a year and a half. She didn't find the work hard; she was just too slow getting around. Even carrying her books tired her out. Cindy went back to Twillingate. She worked for awhile in the Social Services office. One summer she worked as a tour guide at the Durell Museum. But there seemed to be little employment for her.

Cindy wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to work, but her arthritis made this difficult. She decided to move to St. John's. She took a course called "Medical Billing Specialist" at Keyin Technical College. Even though she could barely move her hands, and could only use two fingers, she learned to type 28 words a minute. She also studied computers and communications. But the work was very hard on her.