Walk Your A.S. Off 2014 - Official Booster T-Shirt

Walk Your A.S. Offis a community based campaign held each year from March 1st until World A.S. Day the first Saturday of May. We walk to raise awareness of Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.) and the family of related diseases. We walk where we live and work without the need to attend any events. We track our daily steps and set large collective goals. Our walk brings people & teams together from all over the globe, showing that a small group of people can take great strides to change the world.

Have you heard of AS? Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) & Axial Spondyloarthritisis (SpA) are chronic life long autoimmune diseases that cause extreme back pain, fatigue, and inflammation throughout the body including possible organ involvement. Certain complications can lead to disability & spinal joint fusion. SpA often goes undiagnosed for years until fusion is apparent and the disease progresses to full blown A.S. & disability. Recent CDC estimates are that 1% of the population have this disease – or 33 million people worldwide! We are walking for those who cannot. We are joining together to walk for our health & to raise awareness.

What we’ve already accomplished:

In year one, we wanted to go 1 million steps! We quickly realized that with the outpouring of support we received, we needed a much larger goal so our 20 initial teams set out to circle the globe in steps made in the name of Ankylosing Spondylitis – and we did it! We collectively stepped 63,978,087 steps or about 32,000 miles!

In year two we grew enormously and took on the seemingly impossible goal of “WALKING to the moon” - a goal TEN times the size of the goal from the year before – and we DID IT! We collectively took 654,568,770 steps well over the approximate 478 million we needed or about 328,000 miles!

Where we’re headed:

In year three (2014) we’ve taken on a goal that may take us approximately 10 years to accomplish – 10 years – the average number of years it currently takes a person with A.S. to receive a diagnosis. We are attempting to be the first people to “step foot” on Mars!Our current campaign for this year is “We Dream Big!” We realize this is a far reaching vision, but one that can fulfill many of our goals and reach a world full of people – affecting people with and without AS positively in so many ways!

Our success is highly dependent on the efforts of our teams and walkers and our continued ability to reach more prospective walkers and people with A.S. We want as manypeople with a form of Spondylitis and their families, friends and supporters to join us each year. With your help, we can continue to grow our audience and increase our participant numbers. We hope you love our 2014 Booster t-shirt. Designed by Melissa Levanduski, Face 1066.

Thank you in advance for your support!