The Texas Mini Conference for Cure JM was held at the First United Methodist Church, Martindale for the fourth year in a row on July 23.

Fourteen church members volunteered their entire Saturday to help feed and host more than 90 attendees from all over Texas that included 20 children with Juvenile Myositis.

Juvenile Myositis (JM) is a rare and life-threatening autoimmune disease that makes the body’s immune system attack its own muscles and tissues. While each child with JM is affected differently and some cases are relatively mild, many children are affected chronically, leading to severe muscle weakness, breathing problems, digestive (GI) tract complications, vasculitic ulcers, and contractures. If left untreated or not diagnosed quick enough, these cases become fatal.

Martindale is home to two families with children who have JM. This year over twenty families attended to hear Cure JM’s executive director Jim Minow, Dr. Ruy Carrasco from Specially For Children, and multiple other speakers. Topics concerning fundraising techniques, the organization’s rapid growth, and future local chapters were addressed, but the most important aspect of the conference was in providing family support and reassurance and instilling hope.

Out of one million children in the United States, two to four will be diagnosed with JM each year. However, because of the growing support and attention, Cure JM is garnering to advocate this disease, research is being funded to try to find a cure at last.

To learn more about the symptoms of Juvenile Myositis (and to see how you can help) please visit www.curejm.org.