Kids get arthritis too, and it affects the whole family.
This is the message these Rotorua twins are hoping to share and shed light on by shaving their hair.
When India Heron, 16, was 11 years old, she had a sore knee for about a week. She was in her last week of primary school when her mother noticed India's right knee was swollen more than twice its normal size.
After a couple months of tests and hospital admissions, India was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA).
Before long, the arthritis spread to many of her other joints and she was diagnosed with three other conditions that are common alongside JIA.
Over the past five years India has had numerous hospital stays, trialled many medications, been unable to walk for weeks at a time, and her and her family's life changed as they tried to adjust to living with arthritis.
"Pretty much every joint is affected but the worst would be both legs and hands," India says.
"When I was first diagnosed, I only had symptoms in my right knee and then it slowly spread everywhere."
It will be five years in December since she was diagnosed, and she says having JIA has changed a lot of things in her life.
India is now home schooled and attends the Northern Health School as attending a regular school is too hard with difficulties such as writing and getting from class to class.
"It changes everything, you have to learn to adapt how you move around and do things.
"I think there's a lot of stereotypes around arthritis that it's an old person's disease, and when I tell people sometimes I get weird looks or people say I look too young to have arthritis.
"I think it's important for people to know it can affect anyone of any age."
She says a big part of her doing the fundraiser is to raise awareness about the fact that kids get arthritis too and it affects their entire family.
Two organisations have been incredibly supportive for India and her family - Arthritis NZ and Kids With Arthritis NZ.
India says one of the biggest things they have helped her with is communicating with other people in her age group who were going through similar situations, whether that be online or through the organisation's kids and teen camps.
Kids With Arthritis NZ also provided packs to show people at school when she was first diagnosed, as it can be hard for people to understand the challenges when it doesn't look like anything is wrong.
India says growing up she always found it admirable when she saw people with long hair shaving it for a cure.
She got set on the goal of shaving her head for JIA and these organisations, and managed to convince her mum and dad, she says.
India's identical twin sister Alicia does not have arthritis, but her life has also been affected by this disease.
"It affected me in the sense that we are identical twins and it meant a lot of things we couldn't do together anymore."
India was no longer able to play at the park, go bike riding or go to school with her sister.
Alicia thinks it's important to raise awareness because they had experience of telling people and relief teachers at school - when she was still attending - that India had arthritis and they sounded so shocked.
She says she has always wanted to shave her head for a cause and she figured she would join her sister because of how important the cause is.
Both are excited for their Big Shave which is on Saturday, October 9, at 11 am. This will be a public event held at Plunket Rotorua (at Level 1).
To donate to their Givealittle page, go to givealittle.co.nz/cause/the-big-shave-kids-get-arthritis-too
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)
• JIA is the name given to a number of types of arthritis that occur in children.
• Juvenile means children aged 16 or younger, idiopathic means the cause is unknown, arthritis means conditions that cause joint pain and inflammation
• It is an autoimmune condition. The body's immune system attacks healthy tissues by mistake, creating inflammation.
• Symptoms of JIA vary from person to person and can come and go from day-to-day and week-to-week.
Source: www.arthritis.org.nz/jia/