Thank you for visiting my page. Please consider making a donation to support me as I help to raise funds and awareness for myalgicencephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and the work of Dr. Peter Rowe at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
In 2020 I was a 32 year old healthy, active mom and pediatric nurse practitioner. I was a runner, hiker, and photographer. I worked through the pandemic in primary care. I took all the precautions I could to prevent myself or my family (including my 18 month old) from getting covid. Despite our best efforts - covid entered our home December 2020. First my daughter, then myself and finally my husband all became infected. All of us had mild to moderate acute infections without any complications (no pneumonia, no clots, etc) - or so we thought. I returned to work virtually on day 5 of my illness and that is when I first began to realize my mind was sluggish. It wasn’t until I returned to work after my 10 days of quarantine that I began to notice I was more out of breath and my heart rate was higher. I figured it would take me some time to fully bounce back. But by Dec 21 I was in the ER getting X-rays and blood work to rule out a blood clot in my lung or pneumonia. Nothing seemed to be causing my crush fatigue and shortness of breath. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. My last day working at my beloved clinical practice was Jan 7 2021. I have yet to return to work.
For almost five years I have been on this journey and I have been lucky enough to work with Dr. Azola since February 2021 on this never ending puzzle. Now diagnosed with POTS, MCAS, ME/CFS, gastroparesis, and so many more syndromes. I have sold my exercise equipment that turned dusty. I haven’t hiked or run in almost five years. My daughter, who is six now, does not remember a time when I wasn’t chronically ill. But despite all of this, with the help of Dr. Azola, i have slowly made progress, gained back some energy, and begun to find new purpose in my life. Without the help and guidance from Dr. Azola and Dr. Rowe I would likely still be mostly bedbound. And while I cannot run or hike, and I am not working - I am volunteering with the RECOVER study as a patient representative, and I am on the Board of a nonprofit organization called Awareness for Potsies. I hope to one day return to medicine and to work with kids who struggle with the same chronic illnesses I have. This has been a long and arduous journey - but I have been so lucky to have the support and care of the team at Hopkins Chronic Fatigue and related conditions clinic.
Thank you for reading this. If you have made it this far - I appreciate it. And I hope you will consider donating to this worthy cause.
I am one of millions of children and adults who developed long covid in the last five years and we need clinics like this one to not only survive but hopefully thrive. We need the research they are doing, the care they provide, and the education and outreach they do. So please consider a small donation - any amount helps.
Thank you!
