My name is Raven Miller, and my journey with rheumatoid arthritis began long before I understood how deeply it would shape my purpose.

I was diagnosed in 2013, during my college years, a time when life was supposed to feel wide open. I remember waking up with stiffness and pain in my hands, assuming I had simply slept on them wrong. Day after day, the pain grew sharper. My grandmother kept telling me it sounded like arthritis, but I didn’t believe it. I thought I was too young. Too young for something chronic. Too young for something life-changing.

But the truth was undeniable: what I once dismissed as “sleeping too much on my hands” was actually the beginning of an autoimmune disease that would shape the next decade of my life.

Over the years, rheumatoid arthritis changed the way I moved, the way I planned, and the way I lived. I cycled through nearly every treatment option—medications, injections, infusions, braces, splints, steroid bursts. Some brought relief. Many didn’t. And there were long stretches of time where walking was painful, stairs were unbearable, and even holding things felt impossible.

By 2017, my right knee was completely bone-on-bone. At an age when most people are just stepping into adulthood, I faced my first total knee replacement. It was terrifying, humbling, and life-changing. But it didn’t stop my determination to keep moving forward.

In 2018, I underwent de Quervain release surgery on my wrist, another reminder that rheumatoid arthritis affects every part of your life, not just the joints you see, but the ones you rely on in silence.

And then life surprised me. During my pregnancy with my child, I experienced eight months of remission, a season of grace I never expected. My body felt lighter, my movements easier, my spirit freer. It was the first time in years that I felt like myself again, and it reminded me of what was possible beyond pain.

But remission wasn’t permanent. After giving birth, the disease resurfaced stronger. By 2023, my left knee had deteriorated to the point where a second total knee replacement was the only option. Once again, I chose hope. I chose healing. And I chose to rebuild.

Through every surgery, flare, setback, and victory, I realized something powerful: people with arthritis deserve spaces built for them - safe, accessible, and supportive. Spaces where movement is encouraged, not feared. Spaces where they feel seen. Spaces where they are not alone.

That realization gave birth to the Hope in Motion Foundation.

This foundation is more than a nonprofit. It is the community I needed at twenty-one. It is the guidance I needed at twenty-five. It is the encouragement I needed every time I had to learn how to walk again.

Through arthritis-friendly classes, mobility-focused events, gentle movement workshops, and partnerships with wellness professionals, we create experiences that honor the realities of chronic illness while promoting strength, confidence, and connection.

Every program we offer is designed with intention, rooted in compassion, accessibility, and the belief that movement should never feel out of reach.

Hope in Motion Foundation exists because movement is not about perfection. It’s about possibility. And I am living proof that possibility can carry you through seasons you never imagined you’d survive.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for believing in this mission. And thank you for helping us bring mobility, wellness, and hope to communities across Georgia.

Raven Miller
Founder, Hope in Motion Foundation