People with AS in the news

Thanks to etanercept (Enbrel), 45-year-old Andrew Hodgkinson, a Briton who has spent more than two decades with ankylosing spondylitis, trekked to the Mount Everest base camp last November: Birmingham Mail, Daily Mail.

In May, 37-year-old venture capitalist Vineet Buch will compete in the 2009 Molokai Challenge surfski race in Hawaii; Buch has had AS for 16 years.

British footballer Bryan Gunn, who continued to play for the Norwich City football club for years after being diagnosed with AS (see previous entry), has now been made manager of the club: Eastern Daily Press; Evening Star; Scotland on Sunday.

Calgary Herald: Using MRI to diagnose AS, plus more

A Calgary Herald article ostensibly about using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to speed up the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis -- most of us apparently go between seven and 10 years before being properly diagnosed -- also goes on to talk about ankylosing spondylitis in general, its symptoms and effects, and its treatment. It points out that the young men who predominantly come down with the disease are the least likely to seek treatment and the most likely to suck it up, and explicitly mentions the big money behind biological response modifiers (i.e., TNF alpha blockers, biologics, etc.). Worth a read, especially for people needing an introduction to our disease.