Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds announced the launch of a new campaign Wednesday to bring awareness to a rare auto-immune disorder known as AS. In an interview with Fox News, the rock star opened up about being diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a type of arthritis that attacks the spinal cord and causes chronic pain, in 2012.
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“It’s debilitating,” he said. “It’s a really scary thing when you’re meeting with doctors and they don’t exactly know what it is, or they think they know what it is and argue with the other doctor that you saw. So you’re continually being kind of ping-ponged between a bunch of different doctors.”
Now, Reynolds — who recently reconciled with wife Aja Volkman and announced the couple is expecting their fourth child — is using his public platform to educate the public about what he terms the “hidden” disease. The cheekily titled campaign, called Monster Pain in the AS, is designed to help participants determine whether they may be suffering from AS through a short, three-minute quiz, as well as provide tips and resources for managing the disease.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “You feel like, ‘What’s wrong with me, and why am I different than everyone else?’ And that’s [what] this campaign is — to raise awareness. People start to say, ‘Ok, we know what this is, we’ve heard about it, maybe that’s something that I have.’ The goal is to mainstream AS.”
living with unexplained chronic back pain (like #ankylosingspondylitis) can be scary. this is why #MonsterPainInTheAS is helping others better understand what may be causing theirs. learn more: https://t.co/ZXp5BGQGQo#spokesperson
— Dan Reynolds (@DanReynolds) April 4, 2019
we are having a baby boyyyyyy October 10th@RealAjaVolkman I’m sorry I was 10lbs at birth I’m sorry
— Dan Reynolds (@DanReynolds) April 4, 2019