Arthritis Society a big help for concerned mom

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This article was published 04/11/2017 (2952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At age 42, Chantelle Maksymetz was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and as a mother of two pre-teen boys, she wondered about her ability to remain a good parent and lead an active life.

In an effort to better understand the condition that she’d have to cope with for the rest of her life, she called the Arthritis Society.

“Initially when I was first diagnosed, I was in a total panic,” Maksymetz said in a phone interview.

She copes now with flare-ups of the condition and knows that getting enough rest can help with the unpredictable nature of the bouts.

It wasn’t always so easy.

The year before her diagnosis, Maksymetz started having trouble with simple, everyday activities, including walking, gardening, helping her kids with their hockey bags and skates.

“Even doing up my own jacket,” she said.

After doctors told her what was wrong, she started doing research on rheumatoid arthritis, finally putting in a call one day to the Arthritis Society office in Winnipeg.

The warm reception she got was a surprise and the start of the rest of her new life, she said .

“Allison (Kirkland) called back and she talked to me for about an hour,” Maksymetz recalled. “It was a comfort to me to know I wasn’t by myself, that I shared something with someone who wasn’t a doctor. That gave me some relief.”

Since then, she and Kirkland, the society’s education co-ordinator for the Prairie region, Manitoba and Nunavut, have kept talking.

Maksymetz said even though the two don’t socialize, she’s come to see Kirkland as a true friend, consulting her when her doctor tweaked her medication recently so she’d know what to expect and anything else that’s come up related to the debilitating condition.

These days, Maksymetz said her medication keeps her condition under control, allowing her to be the best ­stay-at-home mom she can with sons Aiden, 12, and Ridley, 10.

She also started volunteering with the Arthritis Society, gaining a perspective on the condition she didn’t expect, with more fellowship among adults her own age.

Generally, seminars are held during workday hours, so up until recently, Maksymetz has mostly interacted with older people with osteoarthritis, a related form of the condition she struggles with.

“Because I’m 43, it’s nice to see other people around my age who have RA. I’m the first in my family to be diagnosed with it. The Arthritis Society, they’re giving me information and support and I’m getting it from their members, too… it’s kind of like our own little club.

“I know how to manage the disease. I just have to listen to my body and respect it. So I have a better understanding of it, and it helps meeting other people with it,” Maksymetz said.

More than 200,000 people in Manitoba are affected by arthritis, an ­autoimmune disorder that attacks the body’s joints, causing painful inflammation. The most common forms are osteoarthritis, gout and rheumatoid arthritis. It can also include the less known but equally debilitating forms such as ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and lupus.

The Arthritis Society estimates it reaches about 20,000 people each year online and in person.

Arthritis affects one in six people and its rate is rising, with projected numbers expected to be one in five in under 20 years.

“As two-thirds of them are working age, many can relate to Chantelle’s experience,” Kirkland said in an email.

“With the support of the United Way Winnipeg and volunteers like Chantelle, the Arthritis Society can educate and support people, enabling them to self-manage and live well with arthritis.”

United Way Winnipeg has supported The Arthritis Society since 1965.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca