Take Two

Rheumatoid Arthritis Was The One Major Difference Between These Twins – Until A Recent Diagnosis.

- Andrea Kane

Identical twins Annamarie and Ginamarie Russo share many qualities: They look and sound alike, they love acting and traveling – and both have rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

For almost two decades, RA was one thing the twins, 31, did not share. Ginamarie was diagnosed with juvenile RA (now called juvenile idiopathic arthritis) when she was 12; Annamarie was diagnosed 18 years later, at age 30.

“The pain started just after I turned 12,” says Ginamarie. She chalked it up to playing too much tennis, but the pain didn’t diminish. After seeing several doctors, she was finally diagnosed when she was almost 13.

Although the twins continued to do everything together, “JRA gave us a difference,” says Annamarie. “I was always a bit tougher, a bit sportier playing basketball, tennis and track. I carried her books, and I drove her around.”

Ginamarie’s teen years were marked with pain (for a few weeks, she couldn’t move her legs), countless doctor visits and a series of medications (including one that led to pneumonia). Through it all, Annamarie was by her side. “I called her my magical right arm,” Ginamarie says.