Steve Tuffin

My mum died in 2021. It was in February, a dreary month in the UK when the skies are grey and the clouds are heavy, their bellies swollen with the...

I have always wanted to be a writer. Secretly. Secretly, because the world I grew up in didn’t have writers in it. Or writers didn’t come from, or inhabit, my...

I’ve been thinking about some of the things I do to relax. Not just relaxing my bones or my body, but relaxing my mind – de-stressing my overactive brain. I...

There. I’ve said it. Not out loud, of course, but on the page. Sex. It’s a great word when you think about it. It’s short – which can be a...

I am sure other people worry about body image. It’s normal to worry just a little bit, right? But I wonder if others worry as much as I do. Is...

I have always wanted to be a writer. Secretly. Secretly, because the world I grew up in didn’t have writers in it. Or writers didn’t come from or inhabit our...

I’ve been thinking about all the things in my life that help me stay positive and happy. Happiness is tough to pin down. I’m sure I read somewhere that most...

I was diagnosed with AS in 1999 and told I’d never work again. I went on full benefits – I was even allowed to apply for a car. I felt...

As I’ve got older, I’ve become less inhibited about certain things. I’d always believed (naively perhaps) a person got more inhibited as they aged. Not less. But maybe it’s the...

Summer 1999. I am working and earning good money as a self-employed carpenter. The kids are doing well in school and Teresa, my wife, has signed up at our local...

I read recently that the longer it takes to get a diagnosis for AS the bleaker the long-term outcome for the sufferer. Teresa and I have talked a lot about...

A story of a boxing match that helped me learn to manage my AxSpA flares. October 1974. I am 16 years old. Outside the sun is yet to rise, and...

Every one of us with AS knows how tough life can be. Every one of us must live with AS – even when asleep – even when having good days...