Lauren Reed is a pretty typical 23 year old woman. She very active and she loves to travel and explore, but just a few years ago she had trouble even getting up and out of bed.
"I totally shut down at one point and I wasn’t motivated at all to do anything," explains Reed.
The problems started when she was injured playing basketball when she was 11 years old.
"That just sparked everything up. All my joints inflamed and I knew there was a bigger problem," she says.
After years of pain and few answers, Dr. Bernard Rubin diagnosed her with juvenile arthritis.
"She had developed severe arthritis and we needed to treat her aggressively," explains Dr. Rubin.
They used pills and injections, and less than a year ago Reed had not one, but two hip replacements.
"About three weeks in between and I was back to work in 7 weeks," says Reed. Her case is a very rare one.
Dr. Rubin explains, “It’s unusual to have arthritis as a child. There are only a few hundred thousand cases in the United States."
Surgery is scary, but it also brought reed the relief she’s been looking for almost half her life
"It was terrible. I'd say nine out of ten pains. I couldn't stand for long periods of time. I couldn’t play sports. Now I'm doing whatever, waking up feeling fantastic, going to work being more active. The surgeries just changed my life totally."
Now she plays basketball and works out at the gym, all while balancing work and school.
Reed is scheduled for another surgery -- a knee replacement -- in the next six months or so.
