Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Dec 4, 2024 1:37:13 GMT
I was able-bodied for 51 years until I caught long Covid - Published Dec 3, 2024
By Louis Corbett
Long Covid is a condition that affects people in different ways, from chronic fatigue to developing life-altering nervous system responses that can leave patients with mobility problems and more
Today we are running a number of stories to highlight the lives of disabled people in and around our area. Disabled people make up 24% of the UK population, so it’s important to us that our content, whether about them, by them, or supporting them, is useful and relevant. We’re doing this because we’re committed to properly and accurately representing all of the communities we serve. We are committed to driving forward disability inclusion in our business and our content.
Sarah Barley-McMullen spent 51 years of her life as an able-bodied person, but after contracting Covid in January 2021, her social and work-fuelled life was changed forever.
While much of the world has moved on from the trauma of the pandemic, it has had lasting effects for those 2 million who still suffer from long Covid in the UK.
Sarah, 54, from Derbyshire, initially thought she was just taking a while to get better, but after weeks and months of suffering the symptoms it was clear that the senior academic had developed a condition - one that would flip her life upside-down.
Sarah now suffers from long Covid, a condition that affects people in different ways, from chronic fatigue to developing life-altering nervous system responses that can leave patients with mobility problems and more.
In Sarah’s case, she had developed a range of different symptoms that meant life as she knew it had become a dream of the past. Sarah said: “I always had arthritis and I had asthma, but I was able to pretty much do what I wanted. But what the long Covid brought was this big full stop in my life, a completely new chapter in my life that I had expected.
“I am a very social person and even talking to people became exhausting, but also my voice box had been damaged and I used to sing a lot, it was one of my favourite hobbies.
“I can’t sing anymore because I just damage my voice box more and more. I also started needing a hearing aid which meant I couldn’t stay in tune.
“I then developed an awful lot of histamine allergies, as well as different foods bringing on crashes that can stop me in my tracks. As time went on the chronic fatigue just got worse. I stopped being able to drive and I struggled to get public transport as I would just crash. It meant if I got to a place I had no guarantee of being able to get back.”
As Sarah struggled to adjust to her new condition, she had to take leave from her work at the University of Derby as a diversity and inclusion leader.
This took a toll on her mental health, but another part of her condition meant that Sarah had lost the ability to cry due to how long Covid had affected her sinuses.
“I am a very spontaneous person, I plan when I have to plan, but I’m not able to do that without massive consequences. I walked into Belper once in the early days of getting the condition, however I got so fatigued I couldn’t move. One of the nearby shop owners brought me in and let me stay until I could muster up the energy to get out again.”
Due to contracting the disease multiple times, Sarah developed a range of conditions that limited her mobility including psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory autoimmune disease and enteritis, which causes the muscles in her limbs to become extremely painful.
“This was all unthinkable before. It’s so disempowering and my consciousness has been knocked so much. I just feel so bad for the people around me, especially my wife who does everything for me now. I never enjoyed cooking but I was always able to. Now I can’t even stand over a pot for an hour or so.”
While long Covid as a condition is not classified as a disability, once people contract it they often develop conditions that are. In Sarah's case she has now had to learn to use a walker and install accessibility aids throughout her home.
Sarah’s life has changed so dramatically over the past four years, firstly with the loss of her career paired with the developing conditions and secondly her need to rely on others around her in order to get by.
“From a mental health perspective, the loss of my career, the loss of my independence, the ability to live spontaneously and the inability to cry has taken a massive toll. I spend a lot of my time in the garden now, as well as some voluntary work that has given me purpose again.”
Since developing the condition, Sarah has been a part of an award-winning research team at the University of Derby that is striving to understand the condition, as well as trying to help those patients who are constantly reminded of the disease that stopped the world.
By Louis Corbett
Long Covid is a condition that affects people in different ways, from chronic fatigue to developing life-altering nervous system responses that can leave patients with mobility problems and more
Today we are running a number of stories to highlight the lives of disabled people in and around our area. Disabled people make up 24% of the UK population, so it’s important to us that our content, whether about them, by them, or supporting them, is useful and relevant. We’re doing this because we’re committed to properly and accurately representing all of the communities we serve. We are committed to driving forward disability inclusion in our business and our content.
Sarah Barley-McMullen spent 51 years of her life as an able-bodied person, but after contracting Covid in January 2021, her social and work-fuelled life was changed forever.
While much of the world has moved on from the trauma of the pandemic, it has had lasting effects for those 2 million who still suffer from long Covid in the UK.
Sarah, 54, from Derbyshire, initially thought she was just taking a while to get better, but after weeks and months of suffering the symptoms it was clear that the senior academic had developed a condition - one that would flip her life upside-down.
Sarah now suffers from long Covid, a condition that affects people in different ways, from chronic fatigue to developing life-altering nervous system responses that can leave patients with mobility problems and more.
In Sarah’s case, she had developed a range of different symptoms that meant life as she knew it had become a dream of the past. Sarah said: “I always had arthritis and I had asthma, but I was able to pretty much do what I wanted. But what the long Covid brought was this big full stop in my life, a completely new chapter in my life that I had expected.
“I am a very social person and even talking to people became exhausting, but also my voice box had been damaged and I used to sing a lot, it was one of my favourite hobbies.
“I can’t sing anymore because I just damage my voice box more and more. I also started needing a hearing aid which meant I couldn’t stay in tune.
“I then developed an awful lot of histamine allergies, as well as different foods bringing on crashes that can stop me in my tracks. As time went on the chronic fatigue just got worse. I stopped being able to drive and I struggled to get public transport as I would just crash. It meant if I got to a place I had no guarantee of being able to get back.”
As Sarah struggled to adjust to her new condition, she had to take leave from her work at the University of Derby as a diversity and inclusion leader.
This took a toll on her mental health, but another part of her condition meant that Sarah had lost the ability to cry due to how long Covid had affected her sinuses.
“I am a very spontaneous person, I plan when I have to plan, but I’m not able to do that without massive consequences. I walked into Belper once in the early days of getting the condition, however I got so fatigued I couldn’t move. One of the nearby shop owners brought me in and let me stay until I could muster up the energy to get out again.”
Due to contracting the disease multiple times, Sarah developed a range of conditions that limited her mobility including psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory autoimmune disease and enteritis, which causes the muscles in her limbs to become extremely painful.
“This was all unthinkable before. It’s so disempowering and my consciousness has been knocked so much. I just feel so bad for the people around me, especially my wife who does everything for me now. I never enjoyed cooking but I was always able to. Now I can’t even stand over a pot for an hour or so.”
While long Covid as a condition is not classified as a disability, once people contract it they often develop conditions that are. In Sarah's case she has now had to learn to use a walker and install accessibility aids throughout her home.
Sarah’s life has changed so dramatically over the past four years, firstly with the loss of her career paired with the developing conditions and secondly her need to rely on others around her in order to get by.
“From a mental health perspective, the loss of my career, the loss of my independence, the ability to live spontaneously and the inability to cry has taken a massive toll. I spend a lot of my time in the garden now, as well as some voluntary work that has given me purpose again.”
Since developing the condition, Sarah has been a part of an award-winning research team at the University of Derby that is striving to understand the condition, as well as trying to help those patients who are constantly reminded of the disease that stopped the world.