FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — It can be tough for some teenagers who suddenly find themselves hundreds of miles from home, in a strange town, on a college campus with tens of thousands of strangers.

For a young University of Arkansas student who spent years struggling with a bizarre diagnosis and the pain that comes with it, her campus of strangers felt like a lonely island.

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“It was a struggle to get out of bed and move every day,” explained Brooke Garner, 20, a University of Arkansas student who was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

She has undergone at least a dozen surgeries over the years, including a full jaw replacement, as she and her parents navigated this rare diagnosis.

“It was a tough surgery, but it was worth it,” Brooke said, pointing to barely visible scars on the backs of both ears.

“Woke up for the first time in two years without a migraine.”

Brooke’s long medical process began with scarlet fever when she was just three years old. After numerous doctor visits and countless years of joint pain and almost daily migraines, they were finally diagnosed with arthritis.

“I’m getting so confused,” Brooke continued.

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“Why me? It’s so weird that it’s my joints and I try to explain that to people.”

Doctors eventually identified an autoimmune disease as the gateway that opened the door wide to a host of medical problems.

Brooke finally decided to face this rare diagnosis by joining forces with the Arthritis Foundation. She was named an honoree for Sunday’s Jingle Bell 5K race on Lake Fayetteville. She also formed a fundraising team called “Jaw Breakers”.

Her team gained an unexpected teammate about a year ago after a chance encounter in the Phi Mu house on campus. While attending a philanthropic presentation, Brooke was stunned when one of the speakers was a colleague who said she had also been diagnosed with JRA.

Brooke reached out to Emma Schmich with a direct message on Instagram the next day.

“I cried,” Emma recalled.

“I took a screenshot and texted my parents and said, ‘There’s a girl at school who’s going through the same thing I’m going through,'” she continued excitedly.

Virtually overnight, Brooke’s medical island doubled in population.

And Emma couldn’t be happier to share that island with her new friend, Brooke.

“It made me feel grateful that there’s someone else going through the same thing I was going through who understands what it’s like to be a little scared while going to a big university like this.”

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