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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — The young girl who may have passed you while running on Constitution Trail is exercising to help save her body.
So far, she's winning.
Hannah McLaughlin, 10, of Bloomington, has a rare inflammatory disease called juvenile dermatomyositis. Within weeks, it turned her from an active 8-year-old gymnast to a girl with rashes and rapid muscle loss who no longer had strength to climb into her family minivan.
But her parents, pediatrician and new rheumatologist moved quickly to get Hannah on appropriate medication. And as soon as Hannah got the green light to exercise, she began walking to prevent muscle wasting and stiffness.
The fatigued girl who in March 2014 couldn't walk on a treadmill for more than a few minutes has since completed two half marathons, a 10-kilometer race and a 12-kilometer race.
Next year, she hopes to set a world-record time for a half marathon for an 11-year-old girl.
More importantly, she hopes to beat JDM by pushing it into remission.
"I am amazed at how well she has progressed," said her father, Jon McLaughlin.
Even her rheumatologist, Dr. Mark Getz of OSF Medical Group in Peoria, is impressed.
"She has done well," Getz said last week. "She has an excellent attitude and has handled this (challenge) with great courage."
Hannah's health was fine until August 2013.
"She was a very active little girl," said her mother, Melissa. She loved running around and doing cartwheels, took a gymnastics class and played soccer.
In August 2013, Hannah noticed a rash on her elbows, which her parents thought was poison ivy. Later, rashes appeared on her knees, knuckles and face.
In the fall, she began to get weaker. She tired more easily after bike rides.
"In gymnastics class, I couldn't do basic things," Hannah recalled. During one class, she began to cry.
"She was sobbing and said 'I don't know what's wrong with my body,'" her mother recalled.
In one physical education class, she fell and hit her head because she couldn't raise her arms to catch herself.
"I was kinda scared," Hannah admitted.
During October, she had trouble climbing up stairs, into her bunk bed and into the family minivan and even had trouble putting on shirts.
"The muscle loss was rapid in October," her father said.
"It was really scary," Melissa said. "Hannah always had been a vibrant little girl. Suddenly, things were so wrong. It was heart-breaking."
The McLaughlins took Hannah to her pediatrician.
"To her credit, she was quick to say 'I haven't seen anything like this before' and she called Getz," Jon said.
On Nov. 3, 2013, Hannah met with Getz, who observed her rashes and muscle weakness. A blood test confirmed that enzymes from inflamed muscles were elevated and an MRI detected muscle inflammation and swelling.
His diagnosis was juvenile dermatomyositis, a rare inflammatory disease of unknown cause that affects about three in one million children a year.
"We see two to three new patients a year," Getz said.
Hannah's parents were relieved to have a diagnosis.
"How well kids do depends on how quickly they get in and how quickly they get on Prednisone," Getz said. Prednisone is a corticosteroid that suppresses the immune system, reducing skin and muscle inflammation and improving muscle strength and function.
Getz prescribed a high dose of Prednisone and also Methotrexate to decrease pain and swelling and damage to joints.
"The medicines helped tremendously," Melissa said. By March 2014, her energy was returning and Getz cleared her to resume exercise to build back her muscles.
Hannah began with walking a few minutes a day on their home treadmill.
"We didn't start with the idea of her running half marathons," her father said. "We just wanted her to build up her strength. But within no time, she took off."
Walking led to jogging, which led to longer runs. Jon took up running to help to keep Hannah going. After Melissa gave birth to the McLaughlin's youngest child — Alice — Melissa joined the family team.
Hannah generally runs 3 to 5 miles on the treadmill after school each day. Melissa runs early in the morning or in the evening after Jon comes home from work. Jon runs at night after the four children are in bed.
Jon goes for a long run on Saturday morning, then jumps on his bike to cycle alongside Hannah as she goes for her weekly long run on Constitution Trail.
By July 24, Hannah and Jon were running well enough that they decided to compete in the Deseret News Classic in Utah. Hannah completed a 10-kilometer race in one hour and eight minutes.
"At first I thought, 'this is hard and boring and hot,'" Hannah said of running. "When I got better, I thought 'This is kind of fun.'"
The next race was the Great River Road Half Marathon in Nauvoo in October. Jon and Hannah competed and her time was one hour, 55 minutes and 24 seconds.
In April, she ran the Christie Clinic Illinois Half-Marathon in Champaign-Urbana in one hour, 42 minutes, placing 78th out of more than 2,800 females.
On May 2, she ran the Lake Run 12K at Lake Bloomington in one hour and one minute.
Along the way, Hannah has grown to enjoy the sport.
When she's running, Hannah said, "You just feel super-energetic. Happy. Like you could do this forever."
The half-marathon record time for an 11-year-old girl is one hour, 31 minutes and Hannah hopes to break that next year.
Hannah is enjoying her improved health that the medicine and exercise have brought her. She takes Prednisone and Hydroxychloroquine (to decrease pain, swelling and joint damage) daily and takes Methotrexate once a week.
She is no longer fatigued and weak. While the rash has left her face, it remains on her elbows, knees and knuckles.
"I can do more things for mommy and daddy that I couldn't do before, like watching (younger siblings) Norene, Edward and Alice," Hannah said.
Her prognosis is "excellent," Getz said. "She's not out of the woods yet," but is managing her symptoms and tapering off her medication.
"We're hopeful that, by adulthood, this will resolve itself," Melissa said. "There's a chance that she will develop arthritis as an adult, but it's too early to say. Her progression is encouraging."
Hannah wants to keep running and wants to be a NASA scientist. Her parents want her to be a healthy, well-rounded person.
"Who knows what she'll be able to do?" her mother asked. "To be trapped in your body and then to have a strong body makes her feel good. Knowing that she can do really hard things is enormously empowering."
"When we're given trials," Hannah said, "they're meant to help us, not make us sad."
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Source: The (Bloomington) Pantagraph, http://bit.ly/1GjsNHR
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Information from: The Pantagraph, http://www.pantagraph.com
This is an Illinois Exchange story offered by The (Bloomington) Pantagraph.
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