My daughter has Long Covid.

It transformed me into an advocate for Long Covid kids.

Posted by Nandini Raj

The first few weeks of fifth grade were going smoothly for my ten-year-old daughter, until one evening when I found her lying still on the couch, flat on her tummy, not moving, nor uttering a single word. I called out her name a few times but got no response. I walked over to her, touched her back gently, thinking she had fallen asleep.

“I can’t move, mummy,” she whispered. “I’m in pain.”

Perplexed, I asked her where her pain was and what she was feeling. I slowly helped her sit up on the couch as tears rolled down her cheeks.“I am so sorry, mummy,” she said. “I can’t go to school tomorrow.”

Earlier that summer, my daughter tested positive for Covid-19 and had developed a high fever, shortness of breath, shivers, and chest pains. She initially regained her energy and by the time school started, I thought she had recovered.

I was wrong. That night I found her lying on the couch was the beginning of my daughter’s difficult journey with Long Covid — a journey that transformed her life, and mine as a single mother.

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Instead of asking each other, “Have we worked hard enough to deserve rest?” We started asking, “Have we rested enough to seize our next moment?”

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