By admin 
After spending most of his life bent over at a 180-degree angle, a young man has stood up straight for the first time.
Jiang Yanchen, from China’s Shandong province, suffers from a rare a severe form of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a long-term condition in which the spine and other areas of the body become inflamed.
As a result, Jiang’s neck increasingly bent backwards over time, causing his body to fold into the shape of the letter ‘Z.’
At its worst, his head and bottom were just inches apart.
The now-21-year-old was left in constant agony. AS made it difficult to walk, eat and even breathe, with his lung capacity performing at just 20 percent of an average healthy adults. And he was forced to kneel or lie in a prone position while at school.
Jiang Yanchen, known as the ‘folded boy,’ underwent four surgeries to correct the 180-degree deformity in his spine (YouTube/South China Morning Post)
But, due to a lack of medical resources, he was unable to receive proper treatment.
