FRIENDSWOOD, Texas – Friendswood rising senior, Navaeh Cason, has shined for years as a member of the varsity softball team.
“She was just as dynamic as anybody. Super fast, could play any position,” her former softball head coach, Christa Williams-Yates said.
“She’s a first team all district type kid. People know who she is when she steps on the field,” her current head coach, Jarrod Hunter said.
“She was amazing. Everywhere we went people noticed her, schools would approach us at games, ask for her information,” said her father, Chris Cason.
Nevaeh’s future looked bright, but what she didn’t know was her body was breaking down. During the summer of her sophomore year while competing with her travel ball team, she started to feel abnormal pain.
“I just started screaming and crying. It was like knives everywhere,” Navaeh recalled. “It wasn’t just my knee, it was like everything You could see everything swelling up.”
“She was a shell of herself. It was hard seeing that and not knowing what was wrong.” Williams-Yates said.
That something turned out to be juvenile idiopathic arthritis, also known as J.I.A., an autoimmune disease that is a chronic condition on children.
“They gave me the diagnosis and I had never heard of it before and I was like arthritis really? I thought of old people,” said Navaeh.
“Learning that it doesn’t just affect old people or vulnerable people, it impacts athletes. She had swelling all over her joints and she had a spot in her brain at one point. Fluid all over her body,” Chris said.
Naveah was upset, but also unwavering doing whatever she could to return to the game she loved.
“Whenever I get to the point where I can walk, I’m going to walk the best I can during physical therapy. I just kept getting better.” Navaeh said.
Not only did she keep getting better, she finished among the best, including being named to the 1st team all district this past season as a junior.
