Emily Allen
Published: May 9, 2008
DUBUQUE — May is National Arthritis Awareness month, and although many think arthritis affects the elderly, one Dubuque teen know firsthand how debilitating the disease can be.
Seventeen year old Jordan Kass is a hockey playing, rollerblading, machine.
“That’s just my drive to be as good as I possibly can be,” says Jordan, the 2008 Dubuque Arthritis walk honoree.
Whether he is off or on the hockey rink, Jordan’s got a lot of people cheering him on.
“My family has just been a major influence in how I live my life,” says Jordan
But Jordan has not always been rolling on rollerblades.
“He was about seven months and he started getting really sick and the doctors told us they didn’t think he was going to make it,” says Karla Kass, Jordan’s mom
After countless doctors’ appointments, the Kass family found out what was slowing Jordan down.
“We took him back and they diagnosed him, with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis,” says Karla.
A disease inflaming the joints of young children limiting some of Jordan’s joints completely.
“He stopped being able to clot his own blood his liver and his spine were enlarge,” says Karla.
But the Kass family was not about to call it quits.
“There’s no giving up when it’s your child, everyone was there to support us, and no matter what we were moving through it,” adds Karla.
And with the support of his family, today Jordan has fraught and continues to roll around the rink.
Events like the Arthritis Walk give support and raise awareness in hopes to help find a cure and for some it is reliving special moments…
“He came in and said, mommy look, it doesn’t hurt, that’s what one of the amazing things, that make me a believer in all of this,” says Karla.
The 2008 Dubuque Arthritis Walk will take place Saturday, May 17th at 8:00am in Murphy Park.
Emily Allen can be reached at Emily.Allen@lctv13.com
