A PHOTOGRAPHER with two debilitating disorders is on a personal journey to raise awareness of his conditions.

Rob Price, from Layer-de-la-Haye, was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease aged 40 after suffering with symptoms since childhood.

The condition causes inflammation of the digestive system and Rob would suffer with chronic stomach aches as a child.

He said: “I had the symptoms until I was about six and then it seemed to die down.

“Then when I was a teenager I was violently sick, I was diagnosed as being anorexic and was put on all sorts of drugs I didn’t need.

“It continued in various forms until I was 40, I got so tired and would fall asleep at work.

“When I was 45 I had part of my small intestine removed.”

Rob, 60, used to work for a magazine printing company and then a calendar printing company.

He loved his work but five years ago he had to leave due to another hidden condition.

Fibromyalgia, a musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder, left Rob feeling exhausted all the time.

He realised he could no longer live a normal life without the right support.

He said: “I never went back to work after the Christmas break. There was a long period of moping around in pain, just doing nothing.

“It’s a miserable thing to have. It changed after I went to the doctors, they referred me to the hospital and a specialist diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia.”

Since his diagnosis he has learnt to manage both conditions.

Now back on his feet, he works as a part-time photographer.

He said: “I started having cognitive behavioural therapy to come to terms with it and I started meditation and acupuncture.

“It has helped enormously compared to all the drugs I was prescribed. I started to feel human again.”

To raise awareness of these hidden conditions he has launched a new photography project, called Between the Bridges.

He will be photographing Essex landmarks between the Orwell Bridge in Ipswich and Queen Elizabeth Bridge in Dartford.

Gazette:

It will take a year to photograph along the whole Essex coast. He said: “My passion is photography and in my business day-to-day I provide commercial photographic services, but I wanted to do something to raise awareness of both Crohn’s and Fibromyalgia.”

Rob will be travelling in his beloved MGB GT Betty and documenting his experiences, sharing some of his photographs and recording the impact of Crohn’s and Fibromyalgia.

He will record in detail how he feels each day to prove to others how difficult it can be to live a normal life with these conditions.

He will publish his recordings as a photographic diary next autumn to raise money to support people living with Crohn’s and Fibromyalgia.

He said: “I want to highlight how for people with silent illnesses on the outside they seem OK, but some people don’t appreciate the struggles you face just to function.” Visit robprice.photography.