"My childhood ended overnight" Rachel's Story| Long Covid Kids Real Life Stories

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"My name is Rachel and it was early in the first lockdown when I got ill. I was 12 years old and the message at the time was that Covid didn’t affect children, so I believed it"

Rachel now 18 is still living with symptoms such as crushing fatigue, brain fog, nausea, indigestion, bloating, body aches, muscle weakness and heat intolerance. She has also been diagnosed with POTS. She shares her journey, in her own words below.

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When I got ill I thought I would be better in a week, which soon stretched into 2 and then months. My 13th birthday was 7 weeks after I got ill and I remember the crushing disappointment of waking up still ill.

I had never felt fatigue like it, it felt like my body was made of lead, just the weight of a blanket caused pain. I remember shaking fits, my muscles twitching again and again at just the slightest movement. In the beginning I was in near constant pain, which thankfully lessened after a few months.

I remember reading the news, hearing about other people like me, who got better in 6 weeks, I thought I would be like them but 6 weeks came and went and nothing had changed.

"Getting out the house became a nightmare overnight, in the beginning I had no way of coping with these symptoms and would have panic attacks on going out. I remember trying to go to friends’ birthday parties and feeling so confused what was happening to me."

I tried treatment after treatment and none of them worked, many left me worse than I had started. 5 years later I am still here. I feel like I had to become an adult so fast, my childhood ended overnight. I see the impact my illness has had on my family. They care for me 24/7.

"I used to love going to school and dreamed of all the different things I might do when I was older. Now I just wish I could be well enough to continue my education"

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