A high-flying banker whose world came crashing down after a rare hormonal disorder left him “at death’s door” has been given a new lease of life – thanks to a giant, medically trained black dog that looks “like a fluffy bear.” At the top of his game working as an investment banker, Jon Sheldon, 42, was suddenly plagued by fatigue and fainting fits, leading to a diagnosis of Addison’s disease in October 2015 – a rare disorder where the adrenal glands underproduce the steroid hormones aldosterone and cortisol, which regulate the metabolism.
Frequently bedridden, Jon, of Billericay, Essex, who has two children – Harrison, eight, and Holland, six – with his full-time carer wife Nicola, 43, feared he would slip into an Addisonian crisis, which, according to the NHS, is a medical emergency where symptoms suddenly worsen and can lead to coma and death.
Jon had gone from being “the man who had everything “- a wonderful home life, a great job and good health – to being terrified that he would go to sleep and never wake up.
He said: “I’d grafted my way to the top of my career and was extremely active – doing martial arts, mountaineering and even spending my weekends on survival trips.