In a new interview with Jacqui Neal, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars spoke about his ongoing battle with degenerative disease ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the spine joints and ligaments and can lead to stiffness over time, according to the National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases.

The 72-year-old Mars, who began dealing with sharp pain in his tailbone starting around the age of 14, which later spread throughout his body, said: “With what I have, ankylosing spondylitis, the doctor (told) me (I would) be in a wheelchair at 25 or whatnot, and I went, ‘No, I’m not.’ I mean, how do doctors make their money? By keeping you sick, by telling you this or doing that. And it’s, like, not to be mean to doctors because they help too, but it’s, like, they don’t make any money without patients. So that’s kind of my feeling about it. I mean, absolutely, there’s people that get so badly (physically debilitated) — let’s say like Stephen Hawking (the English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),commonly referred to in the U.S. as Lou Gehrig’s disease), and those, of course. AS is something you’ve gotta fight through, for sure.”

In a new interview with Jacqui Neal, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars spoke about his ongoing battle with degenerative disease ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the spine joints and ligaments and can lead to stiffness over time, according to the National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases.

The 72-year-old Mars, who began dealing with sharp pain in his tailbone starting around the age of 14, which later spread throughout his body, said: “With what I have, ankylosing spondylitis, the doctor (told) me (I would) be in a wheelchair at 25 or whatnot, and I went, ‘No, I’m not.’ I mean, how do doctors make their money? By keeping you sick, by telling you this or doing that. And it’s, like, not to be mean to doctors because they help too, but it’s, like, they don’t make any money without patients. So that’s kind of my feeling about it. I mean, absolutely, there’s people that get so badly (physically debilitated) — let’s say like Stephen Hawking (the English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to in the U.S. as Lou Gehrig’s disease), and those, of course. AS is something you’ve gotta fight through, for sure.”