Disease crippled childhood dance dream

Just 23, Anna has to take a break from a teacher training course. Picture / Martin Sykes

Tap-dancer Anna Mortlock woke up one Boxing Day with a painful and swollen ankle.

She was just 14 and had got the Riverdance video for Christmas.

"I had been dancing along to it all day trying to be Michael Flatley. I thought I must have sprained my ankle."

But a trip to an accident and emergency clinic saw Anna, now 23, diagnosed with juvenile arthritis.

In the following years she has been on a series of medications, including pain killers and cortisone injections.

At times it was so bad her mother had to dress her for school, including doing up her shoes.

"I had no quality of life. At 16 I was limping along like an 80-year-old. I'd go to school on crutches."

The arthritis in Anna's hip became so bad she had hip replacement at 17. But the arthritis has flared in other areas. She now has problems with her shoulders, elbows, wrists and fingers.

"I can't even fill my car up with petrol because I can't undo the petrol cap."

Anna this year developed a blood clot in her arm so she could not take her anti-inflammatory medication. She got run down and then ended up in hospital with pneumonia. The doctor has advised her to take a break from teacher-training studies.

"It was all getting too stressful."

Anna is now doing a couple of papers part-time and preparing for a role as a dance teacher in a play.

"I still love dance, it is my passion."