"The pain is excruciating"- Teen from Kildare hits out at HSE over lack of services for juvenile arthritis sufferers

A teenager in Kildare Town has opened up about the excruciating pain she suffers from juvenile arthritis, and has also hit out at the HSE for not providing adequate services to deal with the increasing numbers of children being diagnosed with the condition.

There has been a remarkable increase of 400% in the amount of children and teenagers on a waiting list to see an expert in juvenile arthritis for more than 18 months, with some children on the waiting list as young as three-years-old.

Darcy White, a 16-year-old girl who lives in Kildare Town with he parents Marianne and Dave, has been diagnosed with the condition, but it took her almost two years to be seen by a specialist, something which only exacerbated the problem.

"Had I been seen earlier the condition would not be this aggressive. The pain is excruciating, it often brings me to tears," she told the Irish Sun.

"Arthritis is an aggressive autoimmune disease that isn't going anywhere. Most days when come home from school I lie in bed, I have the energy go out of nowhere and completely.

"It came and changed my life completely. It stopped me from doing the things I love, and I hate it for that. I wish I didn't have to fight arthritis, it seemed a lot easier at first, but now I'm exhausted."

There are only two specialists in Ireland who deal with the condition, and there were 565 children nationwide waiting to see one of those two experts by the end of August this year. The Arthritis Ireland charity have called upon Health Minister Simon Harris to appoint a third specialist to help alleviate the problem, and Darcy wishes they had proper services in place to treat her at the onset of her condition.

"I wish with all my heart the services for children with arthritis would improve, children should not be left waiting in pain. Don't they realise they are robbing our childhood and causing irreparable damage physically and emotionally?

Her mum Marianne said: "If Darcy had seen a consultant earlier, it would have prevented her joints deteriorating further, as the damage happens while you are waiting to be seen. Medication stops the damage but you cannot go back and change damage already done."