Yorkshire Choice Awards: Leeds woman given shock arthritis diagnosis at 15 stays motivated by helping others

She had been just 11 years old when she began to experience symptoms of arthritis following the death of her grandmother. Claire said: “Her death triggered an arthritis flare-up and I became tired and had painful joints; just really, really struggling with school – and I wasn't myself. I couldn't do what I wanted to do, like in PE and things like that. I couldn't do somersaults and handstands. I struggled to keep up with other kids. I was going home really tired.”

At 15, she was diagnosed with arthritis and hypermobility syndrome and quit school due to the bullying that she was experiencing. Her carers at the time, her mum and her granddad, encouraged her to join an arthritis group, Versus Arthritis, so she could meet other young people with the condition. Claire eventually secured a job in the charity sector, using her experience of the “utter shock” of a diagnosis at such a young age to help other children and teenagers in Yorkshire come to terms with the same news.

Looking back at her own diagnosis, 43-year-old Claire said: “I didn’t know what to say or to do. I think my mom was in shock as well because you always associate arthritis with an elderly person. Back in the 90s, it wasn't greatly known to be affecting children and teenagers and young people. Apart from the support group that we found, there was nothing really charity-wise. It was quite taboo back then, I guess.”

Claire began questioning what her future would hold. She said: “What worried me was how I was going to school. And I was like, ‘Am I gonna go to college? Am I gonna lead a normal life? Are my friends going to understand?’ It was very, very difficult.”

Claire was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia in her mid-20s and a diagnosis of costochondritis, a condition of inflammation around the ribs, followed a few years later. The medication she has been prescribed for these conditions have left her steroid-dependent and she was recently diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency, which counts fatigue, muscle weakness and abdominal pain among its symptoms.

Despite her own personal challenges, Claire has continued to help those in need in whatever way she can. She has been spurred on by seeing the impact that charity work can have on both herself and those she is supporting. She said: “What I did at 15 has had a big big influence on what I do today. It’s a big part of who I am and I find keeping busy and arranging things and doing things takes my mind off my own pain and my own problems.”

In 2021, Claire made 250 care packages for frontline NHS workers. Since she had spent most of her own teenage years in hospital, she also made put together packages of toys, books and treats for children in hospitals. Although she was bedridden last December, she still managed to put together 200 care packages to give others something to open on Christmas Day.

Claire also began a campaign to ensure there would a doorbell for disabled people to ring and ask for assistance outside every shop and building in Boston Spa, where she currently lives. The campaign combined with the care packages did, however, set back her health. She said: “It was just too much for me to do, so what I've done is I've just completely put everything on hold and completely thought about myself and I've been concentrating on my craft.

“It is difficult because I have good days and I will go out in my wheelchair – and then nobody will see me for about three or four months because I'm flat out in bed with pain from the arthritis or fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue and memory fog. It's really hard to find a balance. I do have a lot of hospital appointments that I have to go to and they're obviously very important. I just do what I can and when I can.”

In recognition of her charity work, Claire was invited to carry both the Olympic torch in 2012 and the baton for the Commonwealth Games in 2022. She was also awarded Yorkshire Community Hero at the Yorkshire Awards in 2010 and is currently in the running for a Yorkshire Choice Award in the volunteer of the year category.