Lauren O'dwyer-buckland Living With Arthritis

Living With Arthritis

- Lauren O'Dwyer-Buckland

Reader Lauren O’Dwyer-Buckland from Norwich was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2016 at 18 years old. She hasn’t let the illness dominate her life though and has travelled the world and trained as a windsurf and SUP instructor. She shares her inspiring story.

I know what you’re thinking, arthritis is an ‘old age’ disease and there’s no way a girl of 18 could be diagnosed with it at such a young age. That was my exact thoughts too as I left that very cold and lonely room in the hospital. I went in with an open mind, but nothing prepared me for something so life changing.

This is my story of how I coped and how I am still coping with this illness, which has actually somewhat shaped my life perfectly to what it has become. My weakness has now become my strength.

JOURNEY

I started this journey in 2016 when I was 18 years old. I suddenly felt a shooting pain all the way down my arm one night after skiing at my local dry slope. I didn’t think anything of it until the pain didn’t go away and started to spread throughout my whole body. My feet, knees, hands, elbows, shoulders, you name it, all hurt. It got to the point where I couldn’t lock my car because the pain was so bad. Daily life quickly became very sore and hard. My Mum, the most supportive and encouraging woman I know, helped me through every possible step she could and more. She was a Resuscitation Officer at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and had been working there for 30 years. She was very knowledgeable and basically translated everything into plain English for me so that I could understand what was happening to my body.