In our support group there are also people doing long-haul recovery who didn't get the ‘validation’ of a positive test result (no test / or outside of time window). Imagine the anguish of knowing how sick you feel but not being able to ‘prove it’. They feel isolated & over looked

There could be many of these people in our community and we’ll simply never know. Here are a few of their stories… /2

Meet Aaron, 49 years old & he tested negative, but his wife tested positive. They’re both experiencing a “long-haul” recovery. Sick for 25weeks with a permanent head cold, cough, nasal drip, fatigue. But he does feel like he’s getting better, though fatigue drops him every day /3

Meet Hayley. She’s 35 and 24 weeks in on her long-haul recovery. She can only do short walks before she gets out of breath. She feels devalued. I sense her frustration and feel so much empathy for how difficult it must be ‘not knowing’. /4

Meet Sara. She’s 51 & 40 weeks in, came home from Sydney. The most debilitating implication would be the exhaustion & heart issues (the tachycardia is a known ongoing issue for Covid-19 patients). The relief joining our group & being heard was palpable through the keyboard /5

Meet Callum. He’s 27 & he’s at 23 weeks. He gets heart palpitations now, constant chest pain, regular muscle spasms, shortness of breath. He can no longer run – he used to go twice a week. That loss of activity in itself is heart-breaking, he’s in his prime FFS. /6

And finally today, here’s Steven. He’s 52, been handling this change in life direction for 30 weeks and he’s feeling pretty bloody buggered. The chronic fatigue is the most common symptom, everyone just runs out of juice /7