Having a child diagnosed with rheumatic disease is hard enough without the added stress of the costs of treatments and the missed work for all of the appointments and illnesses or flares. You allowed us to ease some of that stress for many families this year.

Some of our help was a little too close for comfort, coming just hours before water, gas, or electricity was about to be shut off or the deadline for eviction, but we were able to keep families in their homes, keep the utilities on, and keep medications refrigerated.

This year, we created travel funds so pediatric rheumatology centers can ensure low-income families can make it to their appointments. We established the travel fund at two hospitals and hope to expand it to ten hospitals by the end of next year. A very sincere thank you for all of your support. We wish you all a Happy New Year.