The Sunday's first Walk To Fight Arthritis, at Bingemans Park, raised a message: Children get arthritis too.

It was a message that was witnessed as displayed on T-shirts, particularly Derek's Destroyers, a team of 25 friends and family who participate in the walk primarily to aid eight-year-old Derek Beam, diagnosed with the languishing disease when he was just six.

It is reported that nearly 3,500 people from 16 cities across Canada came to be a part of the first national Walk to Fight Arthritis yesterday, raising about $900,000 to assist discover a cure for one of the leading causes of disability among Canadians.

"By all accounts, this was an incredible event and we couldn't have done it without the dedication and generosity of everyone involved including our major sponsor, the makers of TYLENOL(R)," quoted Steven McNair, President and CEO, The Arthritis Society.

In addition, Canadian hockey legend Wendel Clark became a part of the Toronto walk to back his mother-in-law and many friends and former hockey mates who are surviving with the disease.

Wendel and other walk participants were witnessed to wear symbolic Blue Badges in a bid to assist demonstrate and spread awareness regarding various forms of arthritis, a disease that doesn't engulfs just older people.