"I am about to start my life as a princess," the young girl said, excitedly. Beaming with pride, she danced around the room, her face aglow, a joyful smile reflected in her eyes that seemed to light up the room more than the sun streaming through the window.

Though she is only five years old, she knows that being a princess is special. She also knows that it carries a responsibility, but it is one she has, in the span between two ticks of the clock, accepted fully. Already, a regal air shimmers about her like a gossamer gown and she suddenly finds herself standing a bit more erect, taller, majestic...then, her eyebrows knit together in sudden, intense thought. She doesn't know how to be a princess. Yet shock and panic are instantly extinguished like water poured onto a candle's flame as her thoughts resolve into crystalline clarity. "Hmmm... maybe I can get some tips from Cinderella when I see her at Disney World."

Madeleine Radzwion...Princess Madeleine Radzwion. The name kept playing over and over in her mind. Each time brought with it new delight, new possibilities. So much to do, so many plans to make, so much work ahead of her. She was determined to be every bit what the people expected a princess to be...and so much more. She would become for them the fairytale princess that everyone held so protectively close to their hearts, like a delicate bird, so breathtakingly special, magical, an echo of a dream...despite the fact that she is only five years old, despite the fact that she lived in almost daily pain, and despite often having the plastic tubes of an intravenous unit connected to her arm. She is a princess after all...well, at least for today.

"Now that I am a princess I am so popular," she says as the television crew arrives. Today is her special day. Today, she is crowned. Today, the Make-a-Wish foundation grants her wish.

Madeleine Radzwion was diagnosed with juvenile dermatomyositis when she was four years old. Not much is known about this rare disease, other than it affects the body's autoimmune system. In essence, the body begins to fight an infection...and never stops. This leads to tissue damage, muscular weakness, vasculitic ulcers (ulcerations around inflamed blood vessels, the esophagus and the bowels), calcinosis (calcium deposits under the skin at the joints), rashes, fever and extreme muscular and joint pain.

Juvenile Myositis in its varying forms affects only about 5,000 children in the United States. At present, doctors can only aggressively treat the symptoms once they emerge through a combination of oral and intravenous medication. Currently, there is no cure. While the disease is not fatal, one-third of all children affected will fight JM most of their lives.