Every photo of Maggie Banks in her 2014 summer play shows the 10-year-old standing with her head turned right. It’s not a dramatic on-stage pose; it was the first symptoms of juvenile arthritis.
Maggie Banks, a Cahaba Heights resident and now a seventh-grade student at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic school in Homewood, was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis in December 2014. It had started with a stiff neck and occasional sore knees, and her mother Anne Banks thought it was a simple injury until the pain spread to a total of 26 joints.
“After six months, her other joints started getting affected where I had a good suspicion and so did the doctor that it was something more,” Anne Banks said.
Now two years into treatment, the difference is night and day. In the six months leading up to diagnosis, Maggie Banks couldn’t play school sports and had to use a wheelchair on a family trip to Disney World.
“It was very hard, and I struggled a lot. I just felt like an outcast, I guess, with all my friends because they could all run and play sports and play basketball at recess. I had to sit on the wall or sit out, or I had ice on my legs and my arms,” Maggie Banks said.
Now she plays on her school’s volleyball and basketball teams. She still has flare-ups and takes weekly shots and almost-daily painkillers, but Maggie Banks is back to being able to participate fully with classes and friends. Along the way, she has developed a passion for spreading awareness of juvenile arthritis and helping other kids deal with the same diagnosis.
Anne Banks said while it was a relief for their family to know that Maggie Banks’ pain wasn’t caused by something more severe, it was hard for her at 10 years old to grasp this was something that would stay with her for the rest of her life.
“She wasn’t necessarily prepared for a diagnosis of a long-term disease,” Anne Banks said.
Meeting other children with arthritis in the area helped, as did participating in Camp MASH in Mobile. The camp is free and just for children with juvenile arthritis, and Maggie Banks said it’s “the best week of the year.” Being there helped her realize that she didn’t have to be held back by this disease.
“It’s not as hard for me as it is for some of these other kids,” Maggie Banks said. “They’re powering through it, and I have to power through, too.”
In the future, Maggie Banks said she is hoping she can eventually enter remission. She plans on being a volunteer at Camp MASH and continuing to educate others about the ways arthritis can affect people at any age.
Since the Arthritis Foundation has played a big role in helping the Banks family live with Maggie Banks’ diagnosis, they also like to give back. They are participating in the Jingle Bell Run fundraiser later this month for the second time, with a goal of raising $3,500 and putting together a team of 50 people.
The Jingle Bell Run is Dec. 10 at Railroad Park. For more information about the run and Maggie Banks’ team, go to jbr.org/birmingham/marchwithmaggie.