Cure JM event raises money to help Naperville 8-year-old

Brad and Stephanie Stilling hosted a Sip 'n' Shop fundraising event Nov. 11 in support of their 8-year-old daughter, Haddie, and all the other kids who suffer from juvenile myositis.

Haddie is a third-grader at Beebe Elementary School in Naperville.

A dozen local vendors sold products on-site at the event, which also sold items donated by more than 35 local vendors. Total proceeds are expected to be more than $7,500 - all supporting the Cure JM Foundation.

Haddie was a happy, healthy little girl until age 4 when something went very wrong. Suddenly, she wanted to be carried everywhere and didn't have the energy to play with her twin sister. She didn't have the words to tell her parents that her own immune system was attacking her body from the inside, and she was too weak to walk or sit up. She was quickly wasting away.

The family's life changed forever when Haddie was diagnosed with juvenile myositis at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

Juvenile myositis is an incurable, life-threatening disease. Each year, about 1,000 children are diagnosed. There are about 200 children in the Chicago area who suffer from JM. The disease can cause a distinct rash, severe muscle weakness, dysphonia, pain and fatigue, and can attack and weaken nearly all systems of the body and cause a wide range of medical complications. It can be treatable, but often the treatments are worse than the disease itself. Some children, like Haddie, will go into remission, but recurrence can happen from something as routine as an infection or getting too much sun.

Contributions from events like the Sip 'n' Shop support research into treatments and a cure for juvenile myositis. Donations have funded numerous research studies and helped establish dedicated JM research centers in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

For information about the Stillings' fundraising efforts, visit crowdrise.com and search for Haddie Stilling.