Help Nicholas raise money

Hello!  My name is Nicholas and I have a Rheumatic Disease.

I am 8 years old and once again I am running a 5km race with my family, friends and medical team, this time the 2024 Hamilton Marathon Road2Hope! 

I hope that you will consider joining or supporting Team Cassie+Friends to raise awareness for kids like me.  

Something a lot of people don't know about me (or even don't believe) is that I have a chronic disease.  Sadly my body doesn't work the way most peoples' bodies work.  Instead of my soldiers (my immune system) only fighting the bad guys like germs, it's broken and confused and attacks the good guys too - my healthy joints and bones.  In me, it has especially affected my knees, ankles and feet.  The years of inflammation and struggling to find the right treatments have caused some permanent physical defects that I work super hard to compensate for (and why I wear my knee brace to play sports). 

I see a lot of doctors, take a lot of medication and get a lot of needles to try and keep my immune system working properly and to manage the pain and inflammation.  I am so grateful that because of my treatments I am usually able to run and skate and play the way my friends do!  The problem with these medications though is that they also have a lot of side effects - they make me feel sick and they sometimes make my "soldiers" not work enough and that is why I am immunocompromised. 

Cassie and Friends is a National Organization that supports kids with Rheumatic Diseases by raising awareness, creating support and connection opportunities and funding research. I really like seeing everyone at Cassie and Friends because there are so many boys and girls just like me.  It is helpful to hear how they overcome obstacles and to try their ideas.  Cassie and Friends makes our family not feel so alone.

I was diagnosed when I was just a baby so this is all I have ever known, but I really hope for there to be a cure one day and then I won't have this disease anymore.

Please join my family as we lace up with our friends from McMaster Children's Hospital, Kids Physio Group and TD Bank for the Hamilton Marathon in support of Cassie and Friends and kids just like me!