Our beginnings go back to 1996 when Kristin Kennedy and Rhonda Butler from Auckland started a support group called ‘The Joint Connection’ with help from the former Auckland Division of Arthritis New Zealand.
Karen Derrick and Maureen Purdom took over the running of the group in 2001. At that time the name was changed to ‘Kids With Arthritis’.
Maureen sadly passed away in 2005. Bruce Purdom and Phil Donnelly then joined Karen Derrick as joint co-ordinators of the group. Support was provided predominantly to North Island families.
In 2005 Adrienne Crowe started a similar support group in Christchurch called the ‘Juvenile Arthritis Support Group’. Although centred on Christchurch, support was provided to families throughout the South Island.
Over the next six years the two support groups worked closely together. In July 2011 we decided to join and form a single support network for the whole of New Zealand called ‘Kids With Arthritis New Zealand’
In March 2020 we took the added step of becoming a registered New Zealand charity under the new name ‘Kids With Arthritis NZ Charitable Trust’.
