A 20-YEAR-old has spoken out about the challenges and stigma she faces living with arthritis as a student.

Chloe Umpleby, from Middlesbrough, has been living with Juvenile Idiopathic arthritis (JIA) all her life.

She is passionate about challenging the myth that arthritis is something only elderly people get.

Chloe wants to raise awareness of the impact arthritis has on the "typical" student from her time at Lancaster University, through a campaign, It’s not alright, it’s arthritis.

Through the initiative, the charity Versus Arthritis, wants to challenge the misplaced assumption that arthritis – which affects over ten million people in the UK, two thirds of whom are under the age of 65 – is ‘just a bit of wear and tear’ and inevitable – something only old people get, 30 per cent of those living in England live with an MSK (Musculoskeletal) condition.

Versus Arthritis has joined forces with Global Radio as part of a combined effort to shine a light on how the condition steals the fundamentals of life.

The campaign tells the moving stories of people living with arthritis who have been robbed of the things most people take for granted – intimacy, independence or even the ability to work and earn a living.

Radio stations such as, Heart, Capital and Radio X are running the adverts which hear Chloe speak but with words removed, signifying what arthritis has taken from Chloe.

Chloe said: "I can't go anywhere when I have flare ups. The pain and fatigue mean I can’t even sit in a lecture theatre – I just have to stay in bed.

"When I'm isolated like this I go through bouts of depression. Going to night clubs is very tiring, too, so I don't have the typical uni experience.

"I am so sick of people saying, 'arthritis is only for old people, you couldn’t have it,' or 'it’s just some aches and pains, nothing big.'

"This undermines everything I'm feeling. It's really difficult."

Chloe was born with JIA, and was diagnosed when she was 18-months-old. Doctors do not know where the condition has come from or what has caused it.

Chloe said: "I have to take immunosuppressants to stop flare ups, so I'm having to self-isolate for 12 weeks, as I could get quite ill from the coronavirus."

On a bad day Chloe, struggles to get out of bed due to fatigue and the pain.

For more information go to www.versusarthritis.org