A TEACHER who was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis in his knee at the age of just 26 is the face of a new campaign.

Keir Anstey has spoken out about the impact of the long-term condition on his physical and mental health as part of the It’s Not Alright, It’s Arthritis campaign by the charity Versus Arthritis.

The 35-year-old history teacher from Eastbourne and former Norwich City youth player was forced to give up football because of his arthritis.

The condition developed after Keir suffered an injury while he was training to be a PE teacher at Brighton University.

Keir ruptured a ligament in his left knee while playing football at the end of his first year.

He said: “It was quite a challenge but I got through it and managed to get back to playing football. But over the next few years I developed this terrible arthritis.

“The cartilage was damaged and it was wearing away at a rate which you would expect to see in a much older person.

“Being a really active person and training to be a PE teacher, I just didn’t want to slow down or stop.”

After his condition continued to get worse, Keir was referred to have a stem cell transplant at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London.

He had to take months off his job as a PE teacher at Bexhill Academy to recover from the invasive surgery.

He said: “That’s when things started to get really difficult.

“I feel that I’m able to manage this period of lockdown better than others right now, as I’ve been through it before.

“I was stuck indoors after that operation – the only time I was going out was for physio and hydrotherapy.

“I found that when life has no ups and downs it can be really hard to manage your emotions, because everything becomes the same.

“Waking up on a Saturday was the same as a Tuesday.

“Seeing other people going out and still playing football was really hard.”

Keir was shocked when his surgeon told him he had developed grade four arthritis in his knee and if a medical professional looking at the X-ray did not know his age, they would have estimated him to be around 70 years old.

He said: “That was really hard to take. It’s one of the reasons I got involved with the It’s Not Alright, It’s Arthritis campaign.

“I just didn’t think it was possible. I thought this kind of arthritis was something only older people get.”

Keir was in so much pain a lot of the time he had to have regular steroid injections and was taking a strong opiate as a pain killer.

He had to retrain as a history teacher as he could no longer teach PE and last year he decided he could not go on working and living with the pain.

Keir’s surgeon said he could have a knee replacement, even though it was “unheard of” at his age.

Keir, who is married to Jessica and has a son, Remy, four, and daughter, Ottillie, one, had the operation in October and said it has changed his life for the better.

He said: “Before I couldn’t even get my children out of the bath or play with them, but now I can do all that stuff. My wife says I’m almost like a different person. But the recovery is hard. I’m still expected to do an hour a day of rehab.”

Keir has shared his story with Versus Arthritis as part of its campaign to raise awareness about the illness, which affects more than ten million people in the UK, two thirds of them under the age of 65.

Keir said: “I had a good ten years of not feeling mentally well. I was in my twenties and really angry that this was happening to me.

“I would have loved to hear from people going through the same thing – that would have been a massive support.”

After Jessica suggested the idea, Keir also set up an Instagram account to document his recovery. He said: “Initially it was something for me to be able to look back at, to see how far I’ve come.

“But the flip side has been all the people who have taken an interest.

“I’ve been blown away by the number of people who have contacted me who are going through the same thing. I’ve had people as young as 19 get in touch to say thank you.”

For more information and support for arthritis, go to www.versusarthritis.org. Follow Keir’s Instagram account @a_35_me_and_an_85_knee.