Cashton Samuelson
Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Youth Honoree
 Cashton is 8 years old and on July 7, 2023 he was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). He takes daily medications and weekly shots to help his legs feel better. His mom tells him that he is a JIA Warrior. Cashton says, "I don't like having this disease and I don’t like taking all the medications. Sometimes I feel down, but my family cheers me on and I have great doctors, especially Dr. Davis at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, who helps me feel like I can do anything!" Cashton loves football, specifically the Tennessee Titans and the Dallas Cowboys. One day he wants to be an NFL star!
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Nicole is originally from New York, but has been living in Tennessee the past 6 years. She graduated from UT Knoxville in 2022 and moved to Nashville to pursue her nursing career. She is currently a Registered Nurse working in the operating room at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Her specialty is in Neurosurgery, but she loves getting to be a part of different operations. In her free time she enjoys staying active, trying new restaurants and traveling. She is excited to get involved with the Arthritis Foundation after participating in last year's Jingle Bell Run with the other Co Chair, Alex. Her mom and grandmother both suffer from Arthritis and she is happy to be able to raise awareness in their honor. The Arthritis Foundation has touched the lives of many people and I am eager to be a part of it.
Alexandra McGrail is a Tennessee Native, born and raised in Memphis. She currently resides In Nashville, Tennessee and works for Deloite in consulting for the State of Tennessee. She graduated from UT Knoxville with her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering. She later went on to receive her master’s degree in engineering management from Purdue University.
Paige is a Tennessee Native living in Sumner County working as a Physical Therapist for Star Physical Therapy. Paige received her doctorate in physical therapy from Western Kentucky University, where she met her husband Evan, who is also a physical therapist. Paige works with arthritis patients daily and sees the struggles that they face doing every day tasks. Paige is eager to get involved with this year's event in honor of all her patients and those in this community living with arthritis on a daily basis.
Kathy worked for 23 years with Bridgestone in Nashville before I had to take a medical retirement 9 years ago due to a diagnosis of Addison’s Disease. The years of daily prednisone doses lead to several health complications including acute severe osteoarthritis in her left hip that disintegrated her femoral bone. Another factor was weight gain and limited mobility. In November of 2019, she began moving more through the motivation of a fitness tracker. Eight months later she was at her top weight of 229 pounds. She added an online nutrition tracker and began tackling her weight. Since then, she has lost 102 pounds. In late May she had a complete hip replacement at Vanderbilt. Kathy says, “God has been incredibly gracious to me in my healing and new lifestyle.”