ROANOKE COUNTY (WSLS 10) - February 28 is known as Rare Disease Day across the country.
A Roanoke County teen is determined to not let a rare auto-inflammatory condition stop her from being the athletic and competitive person she is known to be.
Emma Snyder goes to soccer practice. She's a force on the field and it's where she feels comfortable with her team, the Conquerors.
"I've been playing since I was 6, so I been playing for a while. It's kind of my main sport," said Emma. While the 14-year-old is battling it out on the field, she's also in another fight that is unknown to many.
"In 2015, I was diagnosed with osteomyelitis when they thought it was an infection, but last year I was hospitalized again that's when I was diagnosed with CRMO. So that's more inflammation than infection," explained Emma.
Osteomyelitis is a rare and serious deep bone infection affecting 1 in a million people.
"I couldn't run right. It kind of look like a little goofy. No one really thought about it. I just thought I needed rest but it turned out more serious," said Emma.
"That was a week-long hospital stay and she made significant improvement, but the bones had been infected to where she needed several weeks of physical therapy," said Vicky Snyder, Emma's mom.
Emma improved and went back to playing soccer and volleyball. But 10 months later, the pain showed up again with a different diagnosis and this time in her back.
"Chronic recurring multi-focal osteomyletis or CRMO for short and it's actually an auto-inflammatory disease where her white blood cells attack her healthy bone," said Snyder.
Emma said, "I was kinda upset, but I knew God had a plan for me to share my story."
Her main goal is to share her faith with others, raise awareness about the disease and find a cure.
"I'm a very happy person and some people think I'm fine, but really I may be hurting but they don't know," said Emma.
On Rare Disease Day, Emma is receiving a four-hour infusion treatment at Duke in North Carolina. She has about 15 bones with lesions and needs treatment to stabilize her spine.
"She's very determined to not let this beat her," said Snyder.
"I'm hoping these infusions help a lot and strengthen the bone, but I'm going to try to stay positive no matter what," said Emma.
She's also hoping to get back to playing sports competitively, but until then, she plans to encourage and cheer on her teammates and educate others about her rare disease.