Ana Villafañe is a beautiful actress that starred in the Broadway production of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, On Your Feet. She’s also starred in South Beach and pretty soon you will see her on the big screen in Max Steel. What many don’t know is that she’s been dealing with arthritis since the age of 7 and despite this, it hasn’t prevented her from achieving her goals.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, there are about 300,000 children under the age of 18 that have some type of juvenile arthritis or rheumatic condition. The disease can affect children as young as two years old. They have to deal with everyday pain in their joints or muscles, stiffness, swelling, fevers, eye problems, and even fevers.
“You could be fine today, but then the next day you could show up in a wheelchair and you are labeled as dramatic, but you are dealing with something 24/7; it’s something that spikes from one minute to another, so it’s always there,” explains Villafañe. Juvenile arthritis is an invisible disease that if left untreated, the visible effects of the disease could develop such as the deformation of your hands or swollen joints. Arthritis is something that a lot of people don’t know much about because it’s associated with an older demographic.
She describes the disease as a surprise party because you never know when you’re going to feel pain. When she was diagnosed with the disease she was very young and very active, she loved to run, play soccer and even take dance classes. The disease took a toll on her body and her daily activities because there were days when she couldn’t do certain things. “There were chapters in my life when I was in a wheelchair so that made it a little bit difficult because I couldn’t use my body the way I wanted to, so that’s when I started turning to music,” she explains. Despite her illness, she was always a happy kid, always wanting to sing and dance and perform for her family.
At the age of 9 her parents enrolled her in a summer camp with the Arthritis Foundation. There are around 50 camps across the country that help kids develop the independence and build self-confidence that they need. “I always felt like I was a little porcelain doll and everyone around me thought I was just going to break, this camp gave me the opportunity to interact with kids my age that were going through the same thing that I was going through,” she says. For the first time she was at a place where there were kids her same age and they understood each other and didn’t make her feel like an outsider. They did regular camp activities such as canoeing, arts and crafts, swimming, singing, and other activities.
“This is where my love for performing started, from my disease, which is ironic that it was born from a very vulnerable place,” she says. “Everything that is good in my life has started from what should have been my biggest limitation, which is hilarious to me—I love it!” She continues to be a role model for kids that have the same disease, she meets kids at the Arthritis Foundation events and gets to speak to them and motivate them because even though she has the disease, she’s been able to accomplish so much.
“I just found out that there are places where they don’t have pediatric rheumatologists and the Arthritis Foundation has a campaign right now to make it a known fact,” she says. Nevada just got their first pediatric rheumatologist, which is great news because before that they didn’t have anywhere to go, so these organizations are a great source of information and a place to build community support. There are so many programs and valuable information that the organization provides. To learn more visit the Arthritis Foundation and the Kids Get Arthritis Too for more information.
In Spanish