A.S. Face 1378: Andrew Blake Spain

A.S. Face 1378: Andrew Blake Spain

My name is Andrew Blake Spain, but my friends, family, and fiance call me Blake. I am 26 years old from Booneville, Mississippi, I have a wonderful fiance, Kaylee, who stays strong and fights with me through EVERYTHING, and I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis in the Fall of 2012. My family own an incorporated farm, Spain Farms,Inc, and I have worked there since I was a young boy. Not only have I done every plowing, combining, and bush-hogging thing you can think of I also worked at an auto-mechanic shop and a for a moving company. My back problems started in early 2008 after an accident on the job. The pain never let up after that. The long, painful years leading up to 2012 I had numerous spinal blocks, shots, meds, shots, meds, shots and more meds. August of 2012 I finally had the “nightmare come alive thing.” I had a three-level posterior lumbar spinal fusion and stayed in the hospital for days. I have been to pain management, rheumatologist, surgeons and the nightmare carries on with me. Weeks after the horrific surgery, I was finally diagnosed with AS. I have tried everything from Humira, Lyrica, Pain Meds… Nothing stops. I now am about to set up an appointment for surgery on my neck because imaging has shown AS causing the vertebrae in my neck to fuse/lock together. Along with all the “joys” of AS, I also have had a hiatal hernia surgery and one more to come very soon. Though I fight through the struggles of AS it has not always been easy before the disease, I had an unimaginable childhood. I lost my hero and my best friend, my father David, in 1996 in a freak hunting accident which resulted in my mother physically and mentally abusing me for years, my sister was killed tragically by a drunken driver when she was only 13 years old and i was 6, my first cousin, whom was like the big brother I never had, also got killed very tragically in a car accident in 2010 when he was 28 and I 23. I have had a tough life. I’ve seen things no 8 year old should see. I have unimaginable, unbearable pain every waking moment of my entire life and the saddest part, it is probably never going to stop. My fiance and I pray everyday for those who have it and myself. I know first hand how tough it is and I pray for all of you innocent, good people who have to live a daily struggle, because you nor i deserve it. Hopefully, working together we can make a difference and make it known WORLDWIDE!! And last but not least, thank you Cookie, for all the wonderful, strong things you do for theses people! You my friend are making a difference!

Thank you guys for taking time and reading my story! God Bless! :)
Andrew Blake Spain
Booneville, Mississippi, United States of America
26 Yrs Old