Ryan's Story

After a sudden onset of severe pain changed the course of Ryan’s life and led to a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, he spent years struggling with mobility, treatment and the loss of the future he had planned. Now, he is determined to rebuild his life and show that an invisible illness doesn’t mean an invisible life.

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In September 2021, I was a 21-year-old, working at McDonald’s, and in the final stages of my application for my dream job in the Royal Air Force. Life was good. But while at a music festival in Manchester, out of nowhere, I felt a sharp, sudden pain in one of my heels. It passed, but months later, on a trip to Edinburgh, it returned with a vengeance, rushing into both feet, my Achilles and my calves. By December, this pain became severe.

On 16th January 2022, I went to A&E and was sent home on crutches with suspected plantar fasciitis. Instead of improving, my mobility collapsed. For months, I could only stand for minutes at a time. I was forced to withdraw my RAF application, a heartbreaking blow, and eventually had to leave my job at McDonald’s due to a financial hit from being on sick leave.

Throughout 2022, I endured endless physio appointments, ineffective medication, and misdiagnoses. It was only towards the end of that year that my physiotherapist recognised through further testing that this was something systemic with my health only getting worse. On 5th May 2023, following rheumatology consultations and the sudden appearance of a psoriasis patch on my skin, I was officially diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis. 

Accepting that diagnosis was brutal. I went from low to high doses of Methotrexate and Sulfasalazine, moving from tablets to self-injections due to severe side effects - with little relief. I gained weight, I have suffered degenerative changes to the joints in my feet, and battled intense mental health lows, isolated and grieving the future I had planned. 

Around a year ago, I started biologic self-injections. While they haven’t been a magic cure, they have given me a foundation to rebuild.

For five years, metaphorically speaking, I have felt completely invisible. But I refuse to let that be the rest of my story.

I am launching a campaign to prove that an invisible illness doesn’t mean an invisible life. Over the coming years, I am taking my physical recovery from basic rehabilitation to taking on high-altitude mountains. I want to shatter the misconception that arthritis is just ‘wear and tear’, prove to myself that my worth isn’t just gone, and show anyone facing a life-altering diagnosis that there is still a future worth fighting for.