Mia Brees, like her family name, displays the strength and persistence of a summer breeze, with gentleness and warmth.
The 13-year-old Boulder Creek teen has for half her life endured pain and difficult treatments for rare forms of juvenile arthritis, but you would never know it to see or speak with her.
Mia loves basketball, shares photos with friends on Instagram, loves to read and wants to learn to surf.
She is in her last year the Nature Academy of San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District, and is looking forward to high school at SLV where she hopes to play point guard on the junior varsity team.
Her mountaintop home that she shares with brother Aiden 11 and parents Marvin and Theresa has a treehouse where she reads the latest Clockwork Princess novel. Theresa is a social worker and Marvin an engineer, which is what Mia aspires to be.
Next Saturday she and her family will break from their regular weekend activities in the Santa Cruz Mountains overlooking Boulder Creek to watch and hand water to 300 bicyclists peddling south down Highway 1 in the first leg of an eight-day, 525-mile tour to raise money to fight arthritis.
Mia has a special role in this year’s Arthritis Foundation’s California Coast Classic Bike Tour.
Mia has been named a bike classic Youth Honoree, which means she has been chosen to deliver a brief inspirational message to all of the riders as they rest in Santa Cruz the evening of Sept. 24. Only eight young people, all with juvenile arthritis, were selected across California for this honor.
Is she nervous? “Not really,” she said, characteristically taking this new challenge in her stride.
In the foundation brochure and website for the bike tour, Mia is called “a true trooper.”
Diagnosed at age 6 with oligoarthritis, and more recently enthesitis-related arthritis, she has to take several medications to ease the pain and strain of the disease. Methotrexate (a chemo drug) must be taken weekly as well as Zofran to counteract the possible nausea and vomiting from the Methotrexate. Then she must also be injected with Humira every 11 days, a painful and expensive shot.
In the last year alone, that meant 33 painful injections, plus countless Motrin tablets and blood tests.
When asked what advice she might give to anyone who is recovering from a traumatic injury or dealing with a chronic illness or chronic pain, Mia says, “Don’t give up. Don’t let the pain put you down, because there are others people like you.”
She says this with a smile, recalling the great time she has had in the Arthritis Foundation’s summer Camp Milagros.
For more information, go to www.californiacoastclassic.org/ Visit Donation Page: Mia Brees.
