My name is Roger Matthews and I am 40 years old. Although I was born in England I have lived in New Zealand since 1963. I got this disease when I was 4.

Although I have had a number of flares and problems over the years, I think that I have done OK. My story might give some people some comfort that the future may not be all bad.

I became sick at about 4 years old with swollen, sore knees and a fever, and I was admitted to a London children's hospital (at that time I was living in South London). In its early stages it effected mainly my knees but I did have symptoms in a hip, elbow, ankles and my neck. Unfortunately the doctors completely mis-diagnosed my illness as osteomyelitis and then did a knee joint, bone biopsy - I had walked into the hospital but, following the surgery, I did not walk again for over a year.

My memories, and those of my parents of the standard of medical treatment that I received in England are not good!

I do not remember any major systemic symptoms (rashes etc) and therefore I now believe that I had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) not stills disease (I was told that I had stills, and that is what it says on my New Zealand hospital notes).

My parents were looking to leave England and had job offers in both Canada and New Zealand, the decision was tipped by a recommendation about a doctor and a hospital in New Zealand. We moved here in 1963 and I was admitted into hospital straight away.

In the hospital here, at age 5 they finally began to treat me and I received cortisone injections into the effected joints and Disprin (12x 250mg sol aspirin a day), with hydrotherapy in natural geothermal hot water pools with physiotherapy. After 6 months this treatment put the disease into remission with a suggestion that it 'might' burn itself out at puberty.

It has not done that, and I have had 5 major flare-ups over the years with each doing a bit more joint damage. However apart from these occasions I have had only occasional joint pain, infrequent morning stiffness and problems when I stress any joint. ( For example, I remember that I had finger problems for a few days after I had removed my gloves to keep them dry, while I was digging us out of a snow cave on a glacier .... yes I know, the Doctor did say something about it being my own stupid fault and "what was I doing up a mountain in the first place").

I had my first major flare-up at 14 years old ... joint swelling in both knees and Bakers cysts that leaked into my calves, I did not walk for two weeks. It went back into remission with EC Aspirin (2 gm/day) and Brufen (1.2 gm/day).

I next had a major problem at 29 years old. I had run a marathon and had done triathlons a couple of years previously, and I was trying to get back into training again and I began to have knee problems. My original New Zealand doctor had since retired and I had a credibility gap with my new one .... I said I was having problems training for a marathon ... He read my medical notes and was surprised that I could still walk!! At that point I saw some sense and gave up running (what are the words of the song? ... "you know that you are over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill").

My next flare episode was in 1989 while I was backpacking in China ... try getting NSAID's in rural China!! I did manage to find EC aspirin in Beijing and then later I found Brufen in a village in northern Pakistan. This resolved after two months.

I once again had episodes in 1993 and 1996 (in one knee only each time) and in the second event I had one knee injected with steroids. Each of these episodes lasted about 3 months. At about that time I changed from Brufen to Voltaren and I now take this semi-regularly as needed (usually 75 mg/day but up to 225 mg/day when bad).

My knees flared again in February this year (1998) and I had two injections of steroids into one knee, but this time it was very slow to resolve, and I now seem to be having problems in both knees and for the first time since I was a child, in my hip. I am told that the next step is to inject Yttrium 90 isotopes into the joint to reduce some of the lining tissue that is making too much fluid, hence the swelling. I am told (and have read) that this is used widely in the UK, Canada, Australia and NZ but not in the US as it does not have FDA approval. (this is somewhat ironic as most of the Yttrium comes from the US, from the nuclear weapons industry, where I believe it is a by-product of refining weapons grade uranium)

Luckily by mid June I seemed to have finally gone into remission again and I am back down to 75mg Voltaren once a day, and no great problem walking.

Too my knowledge, I have never had a typical salmon rash. But I do get joint pain, swelling and reduced movement. When bad, I can have walking difficulties and problems standing up from a chair, putting socks on etc., but the one thing I generally find hard is trying to stand still for any length of time (social functions and parties where you have to stand around are hard). However I am very grateful that I have got to 40 with so few problems.

The disease has never really stopped me doing things that I wanted to do. I have run one marathon (no more of these!!), competed in Triathalons, climbed mountains, and I have served in the New Zealand army reserve (with a medical exemption). I have qualified as a masseur, and I now teach scuba diving part time (I find that scuba diving really helps my knees when they are bad for some strange reason). My disease has never effected my education or my job ... but it is still always there in the background.

I know that I have been lucky ... I hope that others can be too.