No obstacle for plucky schoolgirl

Yasmin Barker was just two years old when she was diagnosed with arthritis.

But the plucky youngster, now nine, doesn’t let the condition hold her back, far from it.

Despite the pain and the fact her joints seize up and she is on a host of daily medication, she refuses to let it keep her from her favourite dance classes.

Yasmin suffers from Oligoarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA).

The condition means her joints seize up, stiffen and ache. But she still regularly swims and attends tap, ballet and street dance classes.

“She refuses to let her arthritis hold her back,” says mum, Stacey Barker from Sheffield.

The first sign of Yasmin’s arthritis was a swelling in her knee which was making it uncomfortable for her to walk.

“We took her to A&E because we thought she might have broken something but the X-rays didn’t show anything,” explains Stacey.

“It was heart breaking. She stopped walking and instead went back to bum-shuffling to get around especially in the mornings when the pain was at its worst.”

Yasmin was referred to a rheumatologist at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital where she was diagnosed with JIA. “We had never heard of children having arthritis,” says Stacey. “We thought it was something that older people got. But since Yasmin’s diagnosis we have done some research and it seems that affects more children than you think.”

JIA is a chronic arthritis that affects around 12,000 children in the UK. It is an autoimmune disorder 
which commonly occurs in children from the ages of seven to 12.

Since Yasmin was diagnosed she has developed arthritis in both her knees and ankle joints.

“Yasmin suffers mostly in the mornings with her joints; they can be very stiff and painful when getting out of bed,” says Stacey.

“She manages to join in with most activities but sometimes it’s difficult because of the pain and the inflammation in her joints.

“Yasmin takes medication both orally and by injection. She has also recently had steroid injections in her knees and ankle under anaesthesia gas because these injections are very painful.

“Soon, we will be changing Yasmin’s medication to Etanercept which I will inject at home.”

Yasmin, who attends Ridgeway Primary School 
in Sheffield, spends a lot of 
her time with the Rheumatology team at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the Physiotherapy department who help her with preventative and coping strategies.

Yasmin’s grandparents Keith and Beryl Barker are extremely grateful to The Children’s Hospital, Sheffield for the hours they have put 
in to help their granddaughter.

Keen yachters, it was on their last excursion that Keith and Beryl raised money for the children’s hospital.

It came about after James Frazer, owner of Norfolk Yacht Agency, put a sum of money forward to sponsor Beryl to take part in a dinghy boat ride – despite her not being able to swim and previously vowing to never set foot aboard a dinghy.

After James’s generous donation, the rest of the Yacht Agency Cruising Club followed suit and put their money together to total £500.

Yasmin chose to present the £500 cheque to her favourite staff in the rheumatology team: Dr Daniel Hawley, Dr Muthana Al-Obaidi, and nurses Jenny Edgerton and Helen Lee.

Jenny Edgerton, rheumatology nurse at Sheffield NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The rheumatology department are so grateful to Yasmin and her family for their generous donation.

“We will put the money towards the rheumatology department’s ‘nice things’ campaign, where we use donations to fund group activities for families, fun days out for the children and also the Christmas do for rheumatology patients.”

As for Yasmin, the future is unclear.

“We are hoping she will grow out of it as some children do,” says Stacey. “But we just don’t know. It’s a waiting game, really.”

Understanding arthritis

About 12,000 children in the UK under the age of 16 have a form of arthritis. Most kinds of childhood arthritis come under the general heading of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

It is an autoimmune disorder which commonly occurs in children from the ages of seven to 12, but it may occur in adolescents as old as 15 years of age, as well as in infants. The outlook for most children with JIA is good. Although some children will develop joint damage, the majority get better and grow up to lead ordinary lives.

Yasmin Barker and fellow patients and staff from the rheumatology department at Sheffield Childrens Hospital will be taking part in a sponsored walk around the Lake at Rother Valley Country Park on Saturday at 10.30 to raise funds for the department. For more information or to sponsor Yasmin visit www.justgiving/yasminbarker.