Jonathan Johnson, from Swarcliffe, can barely manage to lift his head to see his young kids. His wife Donna described him as “bent in half” and said that she struggles to watch him deal with so much pain. The 35-year-old’s health has been deteriorating for several months as a result of an ailment he’s had since he was a teenager.
Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Yorkshire Evening Post, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. When he was 17, Jonathan was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a long-term condition in which the spine and other areas become inflamed. There is no cure for AS and it’s not possible to reverse the damage it causes, meaning that sufferers often rely on painkillers to ease the symptoms.
In extreme cases like Jonathan’s, surgery can be required to repair significantly damaged joints or correct severe bends in the spine. Over time, the condition can improve, but it can also get worse – some people become disabled as a result of the bones in the spine fusing in a fixed position. Advertisement Advertisement Get the latest on all of the news from across Leeds sent directly to your inbox with our free daily newsletter Jonathan has frequently been hospitalised as a result of inflammation flare-ups.
But, following a bout of inflammation last year, his family claimed he was refused admittance to hospi.
