Finally, one of the healers saw that Princess Sarah had swelling in her joints. Upon examination, it was further observed that the same joints were hot and caused great pain for the young princess. At first the King and Queen were joyful. The terror they were feeling about Princess Sarah's future was put to rest and all the subjects in the kingdom were invited to the palace to help them celebrate. But, the King and Queen soon learned that the road ahead was filled with many obstacles, frustrations, and pain.
Most fairy tales have a happy ending.
But, unfortunately, there are no good fairies or magic spells to defeat the monster known as juvenile arthritis. It attacks without warning, and while modern medicine has provided us with the means to alleviate some of the symptoms, still the monster lurks, ready to rear its ugly head when it is least expected. The story of Princess Sarah is true, for the most part. She is my daughter who developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis when she was only sixteen months old. Neither my husband nor I had ever heard of children getting arthritis.