‘Juvenile arthritis made me feel I wasn’t myself but with my double hip replacement, I cried happy tears for once’

As a young person affected by a severe form of juvenile arthritis (JIA), Ciara O’Farrell’s mobility and quality of life are drastically affected — but a bilateral hip replacement has given her hope for the future

Ciara O’Farrell was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) at two years old. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Niamh Jiménez

‘It’s everywhere. I’ve got it in my feet, my ankles, my knees, my hips, my shoulders, my neck, my back, my hands, my wrists, my fingers, my elbows. And it’s just eating away at me until I’m nothing,” says Ciara O’Farrell, a 15-year-old girl from Wexford.

At the age of two, Ciara ran high fevers for a period of about two weeks before a rash appeared. Following a week of observation at Wexford Hospital, her joints began to swell, leading ultimately to a diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) at Crumlin Hospital. At the time of her diagnosis, 60 joints in Ciara’s body were affected by the inflammatory arthritis which, according to Dr John Stack, affects about one in every 1,000 children in Ireland.