Limited treatments were available in 1985 when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In fact, prednisone was the only medication that brought me relief. Somedays the steroid became the difference between being bedridden and walking.  RA ran wild through my body, it eroded my joints, gobbled up bones and sipped synovial fluid until all that was left was bone-on-bone in so many of my joints. I've required nearly twenty surgeries related to the decay that rheumatoid arthritis has wrought on my body. However, some people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis today have little chance of enduring what I've gone through.

The advancements in treatment, specifically biologics, can virtually halt the disease from wrecking joints. Research had to be done to make these changes. With the loss of financial support from the government, the National Institutes of Heath won't be able to advance targeted treatments which have helped to treat some chronic illnesses already. Who knows what the future of research and development will be if the federal government continues to strip hospitals, laboratories, and universities of the funds they've come to count on.

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