desertdyno

I know you are all busy, but since it is one of my goals, I thought I’d try to spread the word. If you read my earlier post, you’ll know that my 7 year old son has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. He has had it for over 2 years now and has only had two flare ups.

To give you an idea of how this affects kids…Joshua’s right wrist was fused together. He couldn’t bend it up at all. His right knee was very swollen and his right leg grew longer than his left. He was taking 7 tsps of ibuprofen a day plus 6 ml of Methotrexate (chemo drug) once a week. He cannot walk long distances and tires easily. Obviously this is tough on any kid and his case is average. There are kids out there that are confined to wheelchairs and worse.

We are blessed because Joshua has been able to take a new medication (Enbrel) and our insurance covers it. It is given by injection once a week and has done wonders for Joshua. However there are many other children that can’t. It is an extremely expensive medication.

If you can make the time and would be willing (all you 10k runners…) please take a look at this site: http://www.arthritis.org/events/arthritiswalk/default.asp and see if you would like to participate in the Arthritis Walk.

I and many others would truly appreciate your participation!

Thanks!

A huge thanks to Dan and Teresa for bringing so many of us together! It’s great to read about everyone and where life has led them.

I’m living in sunny Phoenix, Arizona with my husband, Don, and our two children, Mackenzie (11 going on 16) and Joshua (7). Don and I have been married for just over 19 years and we did a few yo-yo moves for the first 8 years of our marriage. We lived in Phoenix, moved back to Anchorage, and then moved back here. We’ve been here for over 12 years now, but would like to move to a cooler climate – something with a little water would be nice…rain, flowing rivers, ocean.

Most of my work history involves our kids, but prior to that I was an executive assistant at GCI (saw Chris Michaelson a couple times) and a few companies here in Phoenix. I was also a stockbroker at Charles Schwab for a few years, which is where my husband still is after managing to elude the numerous lay offs. Now I’m a stay-at-home mom, which has worked well for us since Joshua has Juvenile Rhuematoid Arthritis. I spend most of my time at the kid’s beck and call, but I do manage to work in a few projects of my own. I still have a love for photography and will drag the family all over trying to get the “perfect picture”. I’ve sold photo greeting cards to some resorts, sell consignment items on eBay and have a patent pending for our hopefully soon to be available Ponder to Paper (shower writing device). If anyone is a shower thinker, let me know. I’m looking for some testers to try it out.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it the reunion b/c the kids start school the middle of August. We are coming up for two weeks the end of June so maybe I’ll have a chance to see some of you then.

Best Wishes,

Julie (Jameson) Northrop
desertdyno@cox.net