2009 Arthritis Walk - Oklahoma City, OK

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Welcome to the Donation Page of
Lindsey & Bart Bumgardner

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	$100
	$50
	$25
	Other (min. $10)

Enter Donation Amount Here: *Currency shown: US Dollar $

My Fundraising Goal:
$5,000.00

Money Raised to Date:
$3,525.00

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Show Us Your Moves!

Please help me find a cure.

Cole Barton was diagnosed with Systemic Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis before he was two years old. This is the most serious form of Juvenile Arthritis, and affects only 10% of the JRA population. It also has a 10% mortality rate. It involves Prominent symptoms outside joints, high spiking fever, pink fleeting rash, anemia and enlarged lymph nodes with arthritis being remitting, progressive and severe. We noticed Cole had a distinct red rash on his face, legs, and body. This rash was very quickly followed by fevers of 103 to 106. We knew then we had to head to the hospital to find out what was wrong with Cole. After 5 days of testing and observation on July 4, 2002 Cole was released from Children’s Hospital. We were told to watch him and chart his symptoms over the weekend, and meet with a pediatric rheumatologist the following Monday. By Saturday, however, he could no longer walk due to the inflammation and pain is his ankles and knees. On Monday we met with Dr. Jarvis who diagnosed him with systemic onset JRA.

Cole's treatment began with oral steroids and Motrin. This went on for seven months. He was finally off all meds and was in remission completely. We thought that maybe he had put all of this behind him, unfortunately we were very wrong. On Labor Day 2004, we noticed that Cole looked like he had a rash on is left leg. Upon looking more closely we noticed a familiar rash that we had not seen on him for almost two years. The rash covered his chest and we knew then that his JRA was back, even though we did not want to believe it. That next morning Cole had a fever of 105 and our Rheumatologist immediately told us to begin treating Cole with steroids on the max dosage we used when he was almost two years of age. Unfortunately 10mg seemed to be doing nothing so the doctor raised his dose to 40mg per day. (The average dose of a family care doctor for a kid of Cole's age is 2 or 3mg). We thought this would do it, but by day 3 Cole was miserable and still had fevers of 105, vomiting, and for the first time severe chest and joint pain. The pain was so bad due to the systemic nature of Cole's JRA. The arthritis was not only in his joints but had spread to his internal organ. His heart and lungs had fluid around them, another effect of the arthritis. Because of the inflammation around his lung’s we would take turns lying beside him at night just to make sure he was breathing. There was one point when we thought Cole would have to be admitted into the Respiratory Care Unit to help with his labored breathing. Believe it or not his condition continued to get worse. We met once a week with the doctor at Children’s hospital and they recommended starting Cole on Pulse IV steroids of 400mg! We also begin treating him with Methotrexate 4ml. Cole's JRA continued to progress rapidly to the point where I can still remember him saying, after he tried to walk into the living room from his room and fell to his knees, "Daddy why do my legs not work?" In a three week period Cole got four Pulse IV steroids of 400mg. Obviously steroids are not a good thing for anyone at that dose. We were shocked. How could a patient of Cole’s size be treated with 400mg of steroid and a chemotherapy medicine at the same time? The doctor was somewhat able to put us at ease by showing some of the FEW studies in systemic and other JRA cases where they had used this approach.

Fortunately for Cole this regimen of Medicine plus Previcid and Motrin worked for Cole, and as of two years ago September was taken off all of his medicine completely for the first time in almost 2 years, although we know it could restart at anytime of no reason what-so-ever. Like many of the children at the Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City Cole will live with arthritis for the rest of his life. There is no cure, but many advances have been made largely through donations to the Arthritis Foundation. The Arthritis Foundation is a national volunteer organization that supports research into the causes and treatments of all rheumatic illnesses and provides information and support services for individuals who have arthritis or other rheumatic illnesses. The local chapters provide a variety of services, including information and referral, support groups, and seminars for public and for professionals. The Arthritis foundation also provides numerous books and brochures for patients. The American Juvenile Arthritis Organization is a council of the national Arthritis Foundation that is concerned with childhood rheumatic illnesses. Thanks largely to the Arthritis Foundation Cole, along with other JRA patients, is now enrolled in a study that will hopefully help answer many questions that we all have about this disease.

This is truly a wonderful foundation that makes a difference in furthering research and helping people with Rheumatic illnesses. I hope you will consider donating to "TEAM COLE" which is raising money for the Arthritis Foundation by taking part in a walk through Oklahoma City and surrounding suburbs to bring awareness to the this disease state. Rheumatoid Arthritis is a problem that many of us could face one day. It also is NOT just a problem in older patients. This disease is increasing in juveniles more and more and unfortunately we still have not found a cure.

We hope we were able to bring your attention to a growing disease all around the world. Please make the choice to donate to this cause and also encourage others to donate to the Arthritis Foundation.

Again we thank you

Barton, Lindsey, Cole, Kade, and Emory Bumgardner

Special Thanks to: