Melanie Mullikin
“When I was between 6 – 10 years old, I remember crying because my legs hurt so bad. My mom said it was growing pains, but finally took me to a bone specialist who said I had tumors in my legs. He warned my mother that as I got older, my problems could come back. At the time, not much was known about rheumatic diseases. My arthritis went into remission until so much stress in my life triggered it. When I was practically crawling, I went to a rheumatologist who diagnosed me with severe rheumatoid arthritis."