Just Keep Swimming – a Column by Janneke Phung

Janneke Phung is a 36-year-old mother to three boys and is married to a wonderfully supportive husband. Janneke lives in Calgary, Alberta, where she takes full advantage of being surrounded by both prairies and mountains. Running her home, feeding her family, homeschooling her 6-year-old and keeping her 3-year-old twins out of trouble is her full-time job. In October 2019, after years of health struggles and needing to advocate for herself, she was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which prompted her to make drastic changes to her lifestyle. Her motto is to “Just Keep Swimming” in the face of adversity, with hope in perseverance and passion about advocating for others who struggle with rare diseases

My Top 2 Complementary and Alternative Therapies for AS

If you asked me which complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies I’ve found most helpful for managing my ankylosing spondylitis (AS), I’d tell you diet and chiropractic care, hands down. Desperate for relief before receiving an AS diagnosis, I dabbled with various forms of complementary care. Finding pain…

How Minimizing My Symptoms Delayed My AS Diagnosis

“Hey, did you know that redheads feel pain differently?” I asked my husband after stumbling upon some research earlier in the day. As a redhead who’s often experienced all sorts of pain, I wondered if my redheadedness was to blame for my constant ailments. My ankylosing spondylitis (AS) symptoms…