'It started with a sore wrist then became a nightmare'

Teacher had to give up his job because of arthritis but then he 'cured' himself

- PAIGE OLDFIELD

JOHN Burns stared up at his ceiling, pain searing through every part of his body. It was 3am and the dad-of-one had to be up for his teaching job in just in a few hours.

But John knew he wasn't going into work today. Calling in sick had become a habit for the dad-of-one - there were rarely days he wasn't writhing in agony, every movement like shards of glass being stabbed into his joints.

It's a scene all too familiar with those who suffer with arthritis. John, from Didsbury, was 44 when he received his official diagnosis - triggering the start of a six-year nightmare.

"My worst days were when I would have to get up for work," he said. "I'd have to be up for 6.40am, but I wouldn't have woken up because I'd have been awake most of the night anyway.