Hunter Brown, 12, honoree at the Polk Arthritis Walk on Saturday

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Determined Girl Walks With Hope

Hunter Brown, 12, will be the honoree at the Polk Arthritis Walk on

Saturday.

Published Friday, May 12, 2006

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060512/NEWS/605120372/1004

LAKELAND -- Waking up with your joints hurting so badly you need a hot

shower to get moving sounds like traits of old age.

Imagine what it would be like if you were 12 years old with most of your

life still ahead, a life now filled with pills and shots and hospital

visits.

Hunter Brown doesn't need to imagine. Since she was 6 years old, the

Lakeland girl has coped with pain and complications from juvenile rheumatoid

arthritis.

Along with that, she has vasculitis and dermatomyositis, related conditions

that cause more pain and inflammation.

" Vasculitis inflames her blood vessels, " her mother, Amy Brown, said.

" Sometimes I can't even touch her. "

Hunter is the local honoree for the Polk Arthritis Walk taking place

Saturday at Lake Hollingsworth in Lakeland. She and other " Kids for a Cure "

will lead the walk.

She hopes seeing them in the blue hats that children with arthritis will

wear helps educate people about juvenile arthritis.

" Not very many people are aware kids get arthritis, " said Hunter, who raised

more than $1,500 for the walk.

Arthritis and related conditions affect at least 300,000 children, the

Arthritis Foundation says.

" It would be a great thing if diseases like arthritis and other rheumatic

diseases could be cured, " Hunter said in a letter used to recruit walkers.

" It would be great if one day we can all be free from pain and not have to

take more medicine. "

Until that happens, she deals as best she can with the diseases that keep

her on steroids. Her parents take her to All Children's Hospital in St.

sburg for injections. She takes 19 medicines and vitamins.

The Arthritis Walk is very much a family affair. Hunter's mother is

chairwoman of the event. Her father, , and brother, Austin, are

involved, too.

Students at her school, Lawton Chiles Middle Academy, have raised money

through donations and sales of bracelets and arthritis awareness stars. Some

will be on Hunter's walking team.

Their support means a lot to the sixth-grader, who has encountered less

friendly reactions.

" If they know you have some kind of disability, they think like you're not

good enough, " she said. " When I was in first and second grade, all my

classmates told me to go to the back of the line because I was so slow . . .

They didn't give me a chance. "

Classmates' attitudes changed as they went from kindergarten through fifth

grade at Lincoln Avenue Academy together, particularly when a nurse spoke to

them about Hunter's illness. Most are encouraging now, she said, with a few

almost too protective.

Although Hunter wishes she had more stamina and could play on a basketball

team, she tries to accept her limitations. She practices shots outside her

home and plays with her dog, Tucker, a 2-year-old yellow Lab, who also will

be in the walk.

She tries to walk 15 to 20 minutes a day and doesn't seem too upset about

not having physical education classes.

" I'd rather draw or do something else, " she said.