A North-East graduate suffering from Cushing’s syndrome is spreading the message about the rare condition

MOST people contemplating their first skydive – sitting in an aeroplane doorway, legs dangling in the mid-air – would feel frightened. Adrenaline would be pumping; the heart rate would soar. Not Jordy Cernik. Jordy feels no panic at all, not even a twinge. And that's because he's one in a million.

A graduate University of Sunderland with an MA in radio production, he suffers from a condition so rare it left medics baffled for years, a condition which leaves him feeling no fear.

It's called Cushing's syndrome, a collection of symptoms caused by high levels of a hormone called cortisol in the body.

"It is a rare disease. Only one in a million people gets it. Patients are mostly women, or horses, so I guess I’m classed as even more rare," he says. “A lot of doctors in the 1990s didn't know what Cushing’s was, so I set off on a long journey which included many different types of treatments.”

The 42-year-old father from Jarrow, in South Tyneside, underwent a series of brain operations and two procedures to remove his adrenal glands. There were several complications along the way, including a brain leak. He went on to develop pneumonia and meningitis and ended up in a coma, on a life support machine. He had to undergo plastic surgery to remove large areas of fat from his chest, then in 2012, he realised a further change had happened – he was no longer feeling fear.

“At this point I knew something was wrong so I decided to try out a skydive. I went on a small, twin-engine plane that went up to 17,000ft,” says Jordy. “Even at the point where my legs dangled from the aeroplane, I felt absolutely nothing.”

He then did a test for a BBC programme where he abseiled down the 418ft National Lift Tower, in Northampton, while hooked up to a heart monitor. “The line on the monitor should have been going up and down rapidly,” said Jordy. “Instead there was nothing, it just flatlined.”

Jordy’s remarkable story last year featured on BBC Two programme Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook. A version of the show has now recently aired in Australia, an important development for the graduate.

“It means more people, around the world, are learning about Cushing’s, understanding what it’s all about," he says. “I believe there are a lot more people out there suffering and we don’t want them to suffer in silence any more.”

During his time at the University of Sunderland, Jordy was also tested for dyslexia. “I did the test and then literally everything changed in one day," he says. "The support I got from the university was incredible."

As part of his time at the university, Jordy worked on a project recounting his own experience of being so critically ill, for which he claimed a bronze prize at the New York Festivals World’s Best Radio Programs awards. Both Sides of Dying was a look back at a time when he was on life support.

The University of Sunderland offers support to any student with dyslexia – or needs to talk through the dyslexia assessment process. T: 0191-515-2952; E: disability.support@sunderland.ac.uk. See a video of Jordy talking more about his story at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs93IaWTut4