I was bitten by a tick while mountain biking. Now my head is falling off my body (6 photos)

Connor Edwards, 30, was left paralysed after being bitten by a tick. The Briton said: “I’m literally bedridden/wheelchair bound, my head is falling off. I wake up with joint pain. It’s unbearable to live like this.”





Connor, from Cannock, Staffordshire, is pleading for help to raise money for a life-saving operation. Without it, he says he will have to turn to Swiss charity Dignitas to end his suffering forever.



Up until five years ago, Edwards was just a normal guy who worked as an insurance agent and spent his weekends with friends. But because of depression, he took time off and began mountain biking to lose weight and improve his mental state.

He recalls: “I came home one day and my right buttock was itchy, but I didn’t think anything of it. The next day it was really sore and I found a tick embedded in it. I pulled it out and didn’t even think anything of it. Over the next six to eight months, things went downhill.”



Connor's mental health was rapidly deteriorating, and he began to experience a burning sensation in his arms and legs. He was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a group of diseases that affect connective tissue.

The symptoms worsened: fatigue, blood in the stool, joint pain.

Connor explained: "I remember waking up with a severe pain in my neck and not being able to lift my head. It felt like a bowling ball, it was that heavy."



After confirming that it wasn't just Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Edwards went to a specialist clinic in Germany two years ago, where he learned that he had Lyme disease, an infection spread by infected ticks. He was also diagnosed with instability of the cervical spine.

Now his life looks like this: bed, toilet, bed. He spends the whole day in bed, only talking on the phone. Even just breathing can cause unbearable pain due to the displacement of the bones of the spine.

"The windows and curtains are closed because I can't stand the light. I have earplugs in my ears because some days I can't stand sound, even this conversation quickly tires me out."



A man needs to raise £100,000 for an operation abroad to stop compression of his brain stem.

"My neck and head are so loose that my brain stem, which is in the centre, is constantly being compressed. Surgeons can fix my head with rods. If I don't have surgery I could die. Lyme disease is attacking my body. It's destroying my body, my immune system and my nervous system. I'm trying to save my life. "The NHS doesn't treat these diseases and barely knows what they are," Edwards complained.