For much of his high school football career, Liam King was playing through pain.
There were sore knees after workouts, stiffness in the mornings, and lingering discomfort that felt easy to dismiss in a sport as demanding as football. Like many athletes, he pushed through, assuming it was just normal wear and tear.
“You think, well, it’s football,” Liam says. “You’re supposed to be sore.”
But by the end of his junior season in 2025, something was off. Even simple movements felt arduous. The pain was getting worse, and the swelling in his knees was too much to ignore. While he played a versatile number of positions to help meet the team’s needs—including running back, wide receiver, and defensive back—every day was a struggle.
“When I woke up in the morning, I could barely walk,” he says. “It was agonizing.”
Sweet Relief
That winter, Liam and his family sought help from Dartmouth Health Children’s and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD), where a pediatric rheumatology team promptly diagnosed him with juvenile arthritis linked to Lyme disease he had contracted when he was just four years old.
Under the care of Ana Iris Quintero Del Rio, MD, MPH, a pediatric rheumatologist at Dartmouth Health Children’s, Liam started a regimen of weekly methotrexate injections along with daily medication. Within weeks, he could feel a difference.
“It started to get a lot better,” he says. “Eventually, going into my senior year, it was completely gone.”
The treatment was a “game changer,” his mother, Jenny, says. “We just thought it was football. To realize what had really been going on and then see that pain go away. It was huge.”
In hindsight, both Liam and his family realized the condition may have been affecting him for far longer than either of them knew, “in ways I didn’t even realize,” Liam says.
Once the pain faded, Liam was playing the same game in a whole new body.
“I remember going out to run routes after a few weeks of treatment,” he says. “I was faster. I could cut better. I wasn’t feeling that pain anymore.”
Better, Faster, Stronger
With his health restored, Liam entered his senior season at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, New Hampshire playing freer and more confidently than ever. In a standout performance against John Stark Regional High School, he totaled more than 200 receiving yards and three touchdowns, adding an interception on defense in one of the best games of his career. By season’s end, he had tallied 750 total yards and 10 touchdowns in just eight games, earning First Team All-State honors at running back.
“It was just so fun to watch,” Jenny says. “To see him have that kind of season after everything—it meant a lot.”
For Liam, it was the payoff for years of pushing through discomfort he didn’t yet understand, and ultimately, the reward for seeking answers when something didn’t feel right.
Now, that journey has given him another opportunity.
On June 26, 2026, Liam will play in the Dartmouth Health Children’s NH East-West All Star Football Game, an annual event that brings together top high school athletes from across the region while raising funds and awareness for Dartmouth Health Children’s and CHaD.
Selected by his coaches for outstanding performance, Liam sees the game as “a really good opportunity to build relationships and be part of something bigger” by supporting Dartmouth Health Children’s and CHaD, New Hampshire’s only children’s hospital, which provides care for families across the region regardless of their ability to pay.
For Liam and his family, the All-Star Game is a great way to honor the caregivers who were so pivotal to his recovery. Dr. Quintero del Rio was both an “excellent doctor” and “pleasure to be around,” Liam says. And his mother couldn’t agree more: “The whole team was wonderful. We loved everyone there.”
When Liam takes the field on June 26, it will mark more than the end of his high school career. It will be a celebration of everything it took to get there, and the new perspective he gained—on the field and off.
“He’s always been a hard worker,” Jenny says. “To see that all come together his senior year and then be selected for this, it’s really special.”
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