Indiana Walk to Cure Arthritis returns for in-person event after 2 years of virtual fundraising

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Walk to Cure Arthritis is returning for an in-person event Friday at Conner Prairie after two years of virtual fundraising.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the event to go virtual in 2020 and 2021, according to Angela Harrison, event chair and this year’s juvenile arthritis national adult nominee.

Harrison was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis in 1971 at 3 years old.

“All the sudden I started saying that I didn’t want to walk. I would say that I had trouble picking something up with my hands and that was unusual because I was active,” Harrison said. “Luckily, I was fortunate enough that my pediatrician in Columbus, Indiana, picked up on what it was and sent me to Riley Hospital for Children.”

Harrison says the goal of the event is to raise $59,000 to help conquer all forms of arthritis and support continued advances in research. As of Thursday morning, the event had already raised just over $60,000. Organizers are accepting donations through the end of May.

Being honored alongside Harrison on Friday is 13-year-old Brielle Garner, of Sheridan. Garner, a 7th grade student at Sheridan Middle School, is the event’s juvenile idiopathic arthritis teen honoree.

“I have psoriatic juvenile arthritis,” Garner told News 8. “I was diagnosed at 5 years old.”

Psoriatic juvenile arthritis is a rare form of the disease accounts for about 6% of all cases of juvenile arthritis, according to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Symptoms include psoriasis, swelling of the joints, fingers, and toes, and problems with the nails and cuticles.

“I couldn’t move my neck very well or my wrists,” Garner said. “The whole left side of my body was swollen.”

The Indiana Walk to Cure Arthritis begins Friday at 5:30 p.m.

For information on the 2022 Indiana Walk to Cure Arthritis, click here.