A 9-year-old Appleton girl is preparing weekly arthritis injections instead of preparing for summer break and she's on a mission to help find a cure.Tesslyn Stickney was diagnosed with arthritis, cataracts, and glaucoma at age 2 . She joined five teammates, all living with arthritis, at the mile-long Walk to Cure Arthritis in Appleton, Wisconsin. The event raises money to fund research and search for a cure.WATCH THE FULL BROADCAST STORY HERE: Appleton walk raises funds to cure arthritis affecting kidsThe team, called "Six Hearts - One Joint Mission," knows firsthand what living with arthritis means."We have to get shots every week in our bodies so that we can feel better and then we can grow up strong and healthy," Tesslyn said.Her mother, Brittany Stickney, said arthritis medications are largely developed for older patients, not children like Tesslyn. The disease has also attacked Tesslyn's eyes."She has had her struggles with arthritis. It has attacked her eyes. She's lost vision in one eye and she's losing vision in the other. However, we are getting surgeries and medications to help make that go away," Brittany said.The Walk to Cure Arthritis aims to change that reality through research funding. Wisconsin Arthritis Foundation Executive Director Sara Peterson said the need is significant."One in 4 people have arthritis, and actually here in Wisconsin, 6000 kids have arthritis, and we have a lot of kids with juvenile arthritis here today representing," Peterson said.Tesslyn said the money raised at the event goes toward something bigger than the walk itself."We've raised a lot of money up to have money so that we can do fun things and have the cure to arthritis," Tesslyn said.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less