For anyone living with a progressive chronic illness, life ain’t no “box of chocolates.”
No matter how positive or optimistic people are, living with pain and fatigue–day in and day out–wears you down. It’s a gnarly existence having to be dependent on medications that might help, the subsequent challenging side effects, numerous doctor visits, not being able to make plans, and having to disappoint yourself and your loved ones because of things you can or cannot do.
Take living with ankylosing spondylitis, or AS, for example.
It’s a rare, chronic and progressive inflammatory disease that’s just one of many rare forms of arthritis. As inflammation spreads to various joints throughout the body such as the spine, neck, pelvis, hips, and or legs, it causes acute pain and can significantly impact mobility. And although everyone’s experience is different, AS can also affect muscles, causing spasms and other degenerative reactions to the eyes and heart.
The tricky thing is, as the disease progresses, it’s impossible to predict the severity and frequency of attacks and subsequent outcomes. In some individuals, pain and stiffness becomes acute at night and is more pronounced in the morning or after rest.
So what do you do? Hang it up? Toss in the towel? Well, this courageous gentleman, Mr. Richard Nutley, is doing something about it!
Change.org explains how he lived with AS for more than 20 years, and he’s sick and tired of being sick and tired! So rather than feeling sorry for himself because he can’t work or be an ideal father to his kids, he’s started a petition to get AS the recognition it deserves in the U.K.: a legitimate disability. Hopefully he’ll inspire people all over the world to take action, too.
And now here’s…Which Would You Rather?
