Former Olympian
speaks on living with
rheumatoid arthritis
Awesome Athlete
STILL ACTIVE: Olympic
gold medalist Joy
Fawcett hasn't let her
rheumatoid arthritis
slow her down. She still
runs and coaches soccer.
Soccer player and
O.C. mom Joy Fawcett is
still active because of
medication and early
detection.
BY COURTNEY PERKES
Two years after Joy
Fawcett was diagnosed
with rheumatoid
arthritis, she played in
the 2004 Olympics,
winning a Gold Medal,
and then retired from
competitive soccer. But
in spite of the
autoimmune disorder that
can destroy joints and
cause pain and fatigue,
Fawcett still plays and
coaches soccer.
The Orange County
athlete also is speaking
out about her condition
on behalf of
Generations, a Web site
with information on the
disease and survey
results from a new poll
of rheumatoid arthritis
patients. The Web site
and surveys were funded
by Centocor, a
pharmaceutical company
that makes drugs to
treat rheumatoid
arthritis.
According to the
survey of 1,000
patients, 2 out of 3
believed friends and
family underestimated
the impact of the
disease and 90 percent
said their disease
interfered with their
ability to work.
Fawcett, 40, is
married with three
daughters and lives in
Rancho Santa Margarita.
Q. Why
isn't there much
awareness about
rheumatoid arthritis?
A. A lot of
people don't like to
talk about it. A lot of
the public, they'll
assume it's like
osteoarthritis, which is
different. That's just
wear and tear. This is
an autoimmune arthritis
and it hits harder.
There's a lot of fatigue
as well. The body is
attacking the joints. If
you don't catch it
early, they disintegrate
in a sense. Early
treatment is important.
The medication stops the
progression from
happening.
Q. What did
you identify with from
the survey results?
A. A lot of
the day to day stuff.
When you're having one
of your bad days, it's
hard. I remember not
being able to get out of
my clothes after I went
running. It's depressing
and frustrating when you
can't do daily things.
Your joints are so
painful you can't do the
normal things. Both my
wrists hurt so bad I
couldn't pull my shirt
off. Or my fingers were
so swollen I couldn't
braid my daughter's
hair. Those little
things are hard, that
people don't understand
or see. I have to ask my
kids to open bottles of
water or whatever.
Q. Were you
diagnosed early?
A. I was. It
was 2002 before the 2003
World cup and 2004
Olympics. My hands were
just really swollen.
They were like sausages
and it wouldn't go down.
It stayed for weeks. You
couldn't attribute it to
anything. I didn't get
hurt; it's not like I
played goal keeper. I
was more tired than
usual. I remember at
halftime sticking them
in ice. It progresses
from there. My wrists
got so bad I couldn't
move them. The doctors
with the team said you
should see a
rheumatologist. Once you
start the treatment, it
helps a lot. You really
notice the difference. I
don't have any joint
damage so far.
