Meet Kipo

Kipo the monkey seems to have become a bit of a mascot for JAR project lately. Kipo is a monkey who has juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). He’s a star of a book named after him, KIPO. Authors Tsipi Egert and Ruti Vitman, parents of children with JIA themselves, wrote the book to be used to help children understand more about what they are going through, the process of diagnosis, and the importance of treatment (comprising in most cases medication and physiotherapy). It is beautifully illustrated by Dror Adam. Juvenile Arthritis Research have been given the rights to edit and reproduce the book for a UK audience.

Whilst helping children to understand the ups and downs of their condition and recognising that some days will be more difficult than others, the book retains a positive tone throughout. It shows that Kipo, together with the support of friends, family and his medical team can have a fun, happy life.

The Kipo book is included in our “A Little Box of Hope” initiative which is currently in pilot stage and planned for roll-out to further hub hospitals. This pack will be made available to newly diagnosed children with JIA.

The Kipo story is most relevant to children aged around 2 to 8 but does resonate with older children too.

As we continue to roll-out our support resources containing the Kipo book, thanks to the kind generosity of our fundraisers and supporters, we wanted to make the book freely available to all who need to hear Kipo’s story so whilst we are working hard to raise funds for every child in the UK who needs a copy of the book to receive one, you can access a pdf download on our resources page.

We provide these resources free of charge to children with JIA thanks to fundraising and donations to support our work. It costs around £10 for “A Little Box of Hope” to reach a newly diagnosed family with JIA. You can find out more about supporting our work here.

As always, a huge thank you for your support!

UPDATE : March 2021
New Kipo online resources are now available in Kipo's Corner here.