| This little girl is my daughter, Ashlynne, and she has been my running buddy since age 3. She ran her first 5k a week or two after she turned 4, and has run several since. A few weeks before her 5th birthday we ran another 5k. She was super fast and absolutely loved it. However, she complained of knee pain after the race. Concerned, and thinking she might have overdone it with training and racing, I decided to give her a week or so to rest. When she was still complaining a couple of days later, I went to rub something on her knees to give her some relief. I put some on her aching left knee and then saw that her other knee was hugely swollen. I asked her if it hurt, but she said no. Thinking that was strange, I waited a few days for the swelling to lessen. When it didn’t, I took her to see her pediatrician. He immediately suspected arthritis and ordered her x-rays and an MRI, and referred us to a rheumatologist.
After a blood test that was negative for Lyme disease and positive for rheumatoid factor, the rheumatologist concurred. She had Ashlynne try steroid shots in the knee to lessen the swelling. They worked, but they lasted for less than a month, which was considered a failure. They then prescribed a low dose of methotrexate (a chemotherapy drug), as well as twice-daily doses of sodium naproxen for any pain she was experiencing.
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