To mark Arthritis Care Awareness Week, Health Editor Barry Nelson, talks to North-Easterners whose lives have been affected by this debilitating condition.

MILLIONS of viewers will see 16-year-old Emma Doree accompany singer Mick Hucknall on her beloved cello on prime time television tomorrow.

Emma, who has battled rheumatoid arthritis for much of her young life, will be saying a heartfelt thank you to her mother, Sally, who has helped her cope with the painful and crippling condition. She is also hoping that her appearance on the new BBC 1 show – Tonight’s The Night, where talented amateur performers are invited to turn their dreams into reality – will highlight the plight of hundreds of thousands of arthritis sufferers, young and old, who live with constant pain.

Many people are surprised to learn that Emma, from Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, developed a particularly vicious and painful form of arthritis just before her fourth birthday.

But despite having to have regular injections to reduce swelling and pain, she has been able to live a virtually normal life, following in the footsteps of her music teacher mother and learning the cello and piano.

Sally, who said seeing her daughter perform with Mick Hucknell was “absolutely fantastic… a complete surprise”, believed in a programme of tough love. “We don’t believe in sympathy in our family. We have learned to live with it. Emma has been fantastic and has just got on with her life,” she adds.

Sally assumed the trip to London with her husband, Ben, was a Mother’s Day treat until events on stage unfolded. “Ben said he had tickets for a BBC show. It only dawned on me that something pretty amazing was happening when presenter John Barrowman announced ‘tonight, we will be honouring Sally Doree’.”

Sally, who has another daughter, Laura, 13, initially gave up her job as a music teacher so she could stay at home and give Emma her injections.

More recently, she has been able to go back to work, teaching music at her daughter’s school, All Saints Secondary at Ingleby Barwick.

Not content with helping Emma, Sally is heavily involved in two charities, Arthritis Care and the Arthritis Research Campaign. She firmly believes that people with arthritis must do all they can to get the help they need to help alleviate pain and control their condition.

“There are things you can do. You shouldn’t be beaten by arthritis,”

says Sally.

Another arthritis sufferer, former landscape gardener Sheila Lillie was 29 and running her own successful business when the symptoms started.

At first Sheila, now 43, thought the pains in her feet were due to the hard physical slog associated with the job she did. But as the level of pain increased, she realised that something else was going on. The pain got so bad that she couldn’t bear to wear anything on her feet.

“My feet would swell up and I could hardly bear to touch them, they were so painful,” she says.

Then Sheila, who lives in Hexham, started to get similar pains in her hands. “At one stage I thought I had broken my wrist, the pain was so excruciating.

I even went to hospital and had it X-rayed, I was so concerned.”

Her GP referred her to a specialist rheumatologist and she was devastated to discover she had arthritis, which affects an estimated 380,000 people in the North-East alone and another 780,000 in Yorkshire and the Humber.

At first, Sheila tried to carry on working, bandaging her hands to try to ease the pain. But within a few years, she was forced to give up her business, which had a devastating psychological effect on her. “I have been unable to work for more than ten years now. After being such a healthy, fit person it was very hard to take.”

DESPITE the misfortune of developing an inherited form of arthritis which attacks the body’s immune system, Sheila has done her best to come to terms with her illness. In recent years, she has benefited from a new range of drugs which has reduced her pain to more manageable levels. She also believes in staying busy and cultivating a range of interests – including charity work.

A member of the Arthritis Care charity, Sheila has thrown herself into raising awareness about arthritis and encouraging other sufferers to do as much as they can to help themselves.

That’s why Sheila, and other members of the North of England branch of Arthritis Care, will be manning a stall within the Gateshead Metrocentre between April 27 and May 1.

This week the charity is urging sufferers across the region to take control of their pain and challenge the constraints it imposes on their lives.

The charity is also calling for more investment to be made in pain management services both across the North-East.

Tony Murray, Arthritis Care’s director for the North of England, said: “Our message is simple, if you have arthritis, don’t struggle alone with the pain – there’s plently of support out there to help you take control of your pain and your life. For example, ask your pharmacist about any new drugs or treatments that have come on the market, speak to your GP about referral to a pain specialist, or to physiotherapy or hydrotherapy.”

Tony also recommends that sufferers might consider joining an Arthritis Care self-help group, “where you can share your experiences with others with arthritis and learn about easy ways to take control of your condition. We provide a whole range of information and support across the North-East that can be invaluable.”

■ For more information, go to arthritiscare.org.uk, call the helpline on 0808-800-4050 or visit arc.org.uk or ring 0870-850-5000.

■ Tonight’s The Night, BBC1, tomorrow, 7pm.