Hi!

I am myself an Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) patient, which is an autoimmune, painful and progressive decease which can cause irreversible fusing of the spine and may affect other parts of the body including the eyes, lungs, bowel and heart.

Approx 200,000 people in the UK has AS, about 1 in 200 men and 1 in 500 women!

The most common early sympton is lower back pain, and symptons usually start in the late teens, early twenties.

The level of my AS is moderate, however, I suffer from painful flare ups, which means having to be "rolled" out of bed by my partner, not being able to get into the bath, not being able to dress, not being able to walk, let alone even thinking about driving. During a flare up you would see me crawling around on the floor wincing in pain and taking very deep breaths to get through any movement my body has to do. In the past AS has been called the "bamboo spine", which, when you are going through a flare up, rings a bell! You are as stiff as a board and moving your head an inch would cause exruciating pain. All you can do is lie there and ride off the pain.

Enough with my moaning, please donate some money to NASS, who helps and supports people with AS, they do an amazing job with all their branches (hydro and gym sessions) around the UK, their newsletters which provide information and advice to AS patients and their families - NASS is a real glimmer of positivity and knowledge sharing in a world of no cure, uncertainties and an average diagnosis time of 7-10 years which is unacceptable! And they are not government funded...

Please donate as much as you can, i woudl be ever so grateful!

Thasnk so much xxx

 

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