About 285,000 Americans have JRA, including about 4,000 in Missouri, according to the Arthritis Foundation. For da Silva, despite an early diagnosis and aggressive treatment, JRA stunted all of his bones and affected all of his joints. The disease permanently damaged his hips and knees. Despite all his medical setback, he keeps going. My main problems now are stiffness, clicking and popping of joints, and pain.
Mornings are especially tough, but things generally improve throughout the day.
Da Silva was in contact with Dr. James T. Cassidy, an internationally prominent pediatric rheumatologist, for years. For the next 16 years, every six months, da Silva and his father would visit Cassidy for two to four weeks for treatment. At the end of each visit, da Silva would take home a video of the customized physical and occupational therapy routines to follow, along with six months of prescriptions and medicines. However, da Silva did not come to MU just to be close to Cassidy. From his visits here, da Silva discovered Columbia and MU were accessible to disabled students and he liked MU's psychology department.