A triathlete from Dublin has given a stark account of living with long Covid, describing how the disease has impacted every aspect of her life.
Gráinne Kelly was training up to three times a day and cycling hundreds of kilometres per week when she contracted Covid-19 in September 2020. "I guess I was 30 or 31 when I developed long Covid," she told RTÉ News. "I was training three times a day and the goal was to compete nationally, maybe even internationally. "But I can't train now.
If I exercise, my heart goes through the roof. I'm bedridden for two to three weeks if I try to do a gentle walk." Ms Kelly was speaking as patients with long Covid appeared before the Oireachtas Health Committee. Members of Long Covid Advocacy Ireland (LCAI) told committee members that specialist clinics are not helping sufferers and they have been "neglected and dismissed".
It is a feeling Ms Kelly shares. "My whole life has been destroyed. I'm stuck in this life, like we were in lockdown. I haven't left that life.