PARTICIPANT STORY
PARTICIPANT STORY – PAMELA MCLAIN
STARTING AT THE FINISH LINE , THE SEARCH FOR TREATMENT : PAMELA MCLAIN
The Diagnostic Odyssey
Pamela McLain , MD , was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis ( JIA ) at the age of eight . At the time , the only treatment was aspirin , steroids , and casting her wrists or other involved joints to prevent mobility . Over the years , she developed numerous additional medical issues . Her story is complex , and her search for effective treatment led her to the Alabama Genomic Health Initiative .
Pamela enrolled in medical school at Tulane University , where she met her husband , David . By June of the next year , they married and she transferred to Washington University in St . Louis to complete her medical school training while David completed his residency in rheumatology . During medical school , Pamela ’ s rheumatologist completed a rheumatoid arthritis test which , not surprisingly , revealed the positive rheumatoid factor associated with her known JIA . Following medical school , Pamela and her husband moved to Birmingham , Ala ., where the two set up their respective medical practices : Pamela as a surgical dermatologist , David as a rheumatologist . Pamela ’ s arthritis and other medical issues became increasingly challenging in her daily life , requiring multiple medications and leading to significant side effects .
Aside from her successful medical practice , Pamela ’ s great passion was competing in equestrian competitions known as three-day eventing . She competed in the Pan-Am games for the United States and was listed as a possible member of the U . S . Olympic team . Pamela ’ s medical challenges were becoming more and more debilitating , interfering with her ability to compete . After a competition in 1984 , she was hospitalized due to extreme fatigue and illness and learned that her red and white blood cell counts were exceptionally low . Light bulbs went off for her husband , who connected Pamela ’ s long history of joint and blood vessel inflammation with her low blood counts , now confident that his wife in fact had lupus , a chronic disease that causes inflammation and pain in any part of the body . Lupus causes the part of the body that is supposed to fight infection to instead
“ How many years have been wasted ? How many joints are now destroyed ? How much damage from steroids is too much ? Diabetes ? Osteoporosis ? If we can identify which medication is best to start with , you start with that drug and keep that patient from experiencing what I ’ ve experienced .”
— Pamela McClain , MD
10 Alabama Genomic Health Initiative Annual Report 2020