Imagine if Dragon’s frontman Dan Reynolds, one of the music industry’s top musicians, suffered from “debilitating” pain that even forced him to cancel performances.
“It went beyond the pain you feel when it’s just back pain. It felt like someone was tapping into my nerves,” he said PEOPLE magazine about his illness.
The Thunder hitmaker continued: “It was right when the band was starting to have minor success – we started selling out small clubs, and we were playing very active shows and it started causing me to have to cancel shows.”
“I couldn’t go on stage. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t sleep at night, I couldn’t perform without standing completely still. I couldn’t sit for more than half an hour,” Dan added.
And yet many visits to the doctor still failed to pinpoint the cause of his pain, with the singer finding the experience ‘frustrating’.
Then, at his brother’s suggestion, the Dan consulted a rheumatologist to see if he had ankylosing spondylitis, a condition from which two of his siblings suffer.
Ankylosing spondylitis, often called AS, is a chronic inflammatory condition of the joints that can lead to extreme pain.
“I went, and then they did the test to see if it was in your genes — which it was, because it’s an autoimmune disease,” he explained, adding, “And then they diagnosed me and put me on a treatment plan, which helped me recover almost immediately. That was another sign that it was.”
Dan also admitted he hesitated before sharing his condition with his Imagine Dragons fans.
“I was shy about revealing it because it made me feel like there was something wrong with me, or – to say the word disease, it sounds so drastic,” he said.
The Naturally The singer further stated, “And I didn’t want to admit to myself, or anyone, that I was struggling with an illness.”
Now, after opening up, the singer says he’s not sure what he was afraid of and wants to support others through This AS Life Live!, an online, interactive talk show for patients with AS, hosted by patients with AS, in partnership with the Spondylitis Association of America (SAA) and Novartis.
“I have an opportunity to really raise awareness and help people who have just been diagnosed see that there is actually light at the end of the tunnel. For me, I really wish there was a place I could have gone where I saw an immediate community. People are talking and saying, ‘These are the things I’m feeling. These are the ways I’m combating it, and it’s working for me,'” concluded Dan Reynolds.
