Not backing down. For years, Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds has been suffering from chronic pain due to ankylosing spondylitis — but he hasn’t let the condition break his stride.
The Grammy-nominated musician looked back at his journey to discovering the source of his back pain in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly while discussing his work with the Monster Pain in the AS campaign. Reynolds first learned of his condition in his early 20s after experiencing “unexplained back pain” without a noticeable injury.
“It got to a point where I couldn’t perform. I could hardly get out of bed,” he told Us. “I went to different doctors and they didn’t know what was going on, or they thought they knew what was going on and they’d misdiagnosed me … until I finally saw rheumatologists who diagnosed me with ankylosing spondylitis — or AS — and put me on the road to recovery and really changed my whole life for the better.”
Now, the “Radioactive” singer has dedicated himself to raising awareness about the rare — but treatable — disease.
“It’s a battle that I have every day when I wake up,” he said. “But I have a treatment plan, I have people on my side. I have a community behind me.”
Watch the video above to learn more about Reynolds’ experience with AS and his involvement in the Monster Pain in the AS campaign.
