February 3, 2000 – July 4, 2019
Clara was a young beautiful girl, with a smile that lit up every room she entered. Her thick dark lushes hair and eyelashes that went on for days, was the envy of all the nurses at UCSF.
Music made Clara happy! She wrote songs, sang beautifully, and even at her […]
When I left the Communitas retreat, I went straight to work. I felt weird during the two hours that I worked that day, like a part of me was missing, and managed to stick it through another half hour before leaving early and not completing the remaining two hours of the shift. To date, it […]
May 13, 1998 – October 30, 2018
I met Bianca when she was 15 years old, at the start of our first Communitas group in 2014. Bianca endeared herself to our Communitas group and staff from the beginning, with her kind and gracious presence. She became our most dedicated community member and participated in every Communitas […]
My name is Lily, and I have had Juvenile Arthritis since I was a toddler.
For the past 18 years, I have watched the power of medicine– from rheumatology appointments to x-rays and MRIs, drug infusions to surgical procedures, or physical therapy to nonprofit philanthropies. I’ve watched it all happen around me, and it became my […]
Welcome to the Communitas website and blog! Â I hope this site serves as a resource for young people facing chronic illness and their families.
Through my personal and professional experiences, I have come to see serious and chronic illness as a turning point for patients and families. With that in mind, I have had a long-standing […]