TOM Jones used to struggle to walk to the bus stop due to his rheumatoid arthritis, but now he plans to run the London marathon.

Tom from Blunsdon was diagnosed with the condition aged just 21 and said it badly affected his usually active life. “I’ve always been into sports, I have a black belt and enjoy playing tennis, but about three and a half years ago I started having aches and pains in my fingers and toes.

“It was really bad acute pain, especially in the morning when it was cold. So I ended up going to my GP and they thought it was gout. But it took about six months before a diagnosis was made and within that time, the pain I was feeling was getting worse and worse.

He added: “At the time I was living closer to work so I was getting the bus everyday and the fifteen minute walk to the bus stop was excruciating. I was in quite a lot of pain so it was a sense of relief that we finally knew what it was and that it is a recognised condition. It is incredibly unusual for a young person to get it, so it was quite a shock at 21 years old to be told you have arthritis.

“Before this all happened I was running twice a week, playing sports and keeping active but after that it all kind of disappeared, I didn’t imagine I’d be able to do any of that anymore. It took about a year for the medication to start working and subdue the pain enough for me to go sit on a bike in the gym for 20 minutes.

It affected him mentally: “The most noticeable thing for me was my confidence, it was like taking away a part of my identity, I felt like I couldn’t talk about sport or exercise with my friends and colleagues at work. It was a huge knock for me to be diagnosed because I was so active and I felt my body was giving up on me. I got really down about it."

But now Tom is training for next month's marathon.“It happened over a few months. The drugs were working better and I was only experiencing the pain in the mornings or if I’d had a few drinks the night before. So I decided to get out there and started doing some park runs. Obviously I was no where near as fast as I was but it was fun.

“Mentally it was really hard because over time this constant pain really gets to you, I did struggle in the morning to get up and train. But I really wanted to set myself a goal to prove to myself that I can actually commit to the training and get my body back into shape while also doing it for my mental wellbeing as well.

“If this was ten years ago I’d probably be sitting at home on the dole because of the pain, it is only really now that there has been an advancement in medication to help treat people with the condition. That is why I’m running for Versus Arthritis because they are leading in funding the research.”

To sponsor Tom go to: virginmoneygiving.com/TAMJones