Tony and I have come back from the camp for children with arthritis.  This is the 5th consecutive year we have run this camp and every year I come away amazed at the resilience of some of the families.  For many of the estimated 800 children with arthriits in NZ their condition is well managed and while painful and uncomfortable life goes on more or less normally with a few more doctors visits than the average family.  At camp we seem to get some of the families whose experiences are at the other end of the spectrum - like the 6 year old girl who has had several operations on her eyes and has damage to her optic nerve as the eye inflammation that is a relatively uncommon side effect of arthritis has been worse than the arthritis itself.