Smashing goals: Mia and Max do it again

Year on year, Mia and her family are one of our top fundraising families. Mia, together with her brother Max, her cousins and other family members and friends undertake some brilliant fundraising activities to support the work of Juvenile Arthritis Research. 

Mia has had Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) since the age of 3 and the years following her diagnosis have brought many challenges. The past 12 months have been particularly difficult. Her arthritis has stabilised following a nasty flare last year but the after effects have hit her mental health hard. 

Mia's mum, Jo, shared that "Mia has really bad anxiety and hasn’t slept on her own for months. She is refusing her blood tests which means she will have to stop her medication, which will mean a flare is imminent once she stops the injections. She doesn’t understand how bad things will get - all she knows is that she hates having her bloods done and that is that; nothing else matters to her which just shows how poor her mental health is." 

Mia's annual fundraising activities give her something else to think about and something to focus on. Despite her own difficulties, she wants to help make a difference to others with JIA. 

This year, Mia and her family has set a fundraising target of £1,000. As you can see from their Just Giving page, they have totally smashed their target, raising over £1,300. 

Mia's brother Max, helped to organise a charity football match... Lads vs Dads, which took place on Saturday along with a whole heap of other fundraising activities including a cake sale and Mia's charity stall selling bracelets. 

Here's a report from Mia's family about the amazing day:

We had an absolute blast! The dads were on top form in the first half but sharp ran out of steam and the lads won 18-17! It was such a lovely day for the kids and adults and we raised an amazing amount of money. We are already putting plans in place for next year.

We are extremely grateful to Mia, Max and all the dads, lads and other friends and family members involved in making this incredible fundraising day happen. It is thanks to fundraisers that we can do what we do in changing the lives of children and young people affected by arthritis. 

If you'd like to organise a fundraising event, please request a fundraising pack here. Make sure you stay in touch to let us know what you are planning and we'll do everything we can to support you to make your event a success.

You can read about Mia's JIA story here.