The term ‘Long Covid’ is still relatively new. It’s a condition many people may not know too much about, and one that can be challenging to navigate.
West Yorkshire firefighter, Sam Bland, experienced it in 2021 – and is still living with some of the symptoms now. It brought a major impact to her day to day life and now she’s shared how we supported her on our Covid Recovery Programme at Jubilee House:
“I first got Covid in the summer of 2021,” says Sam. “I thought I’d escaped it, but it turns out that summer I was quite poorly. I wasn’t in the fire service then, but was off my job role at the time for about three or four months.
“The impact was immense, I struggled with breathing, fatigue, fitness, aches, brain fog, all ongoing. I’ve just had to find ways to overcome that and manage that better since.
“Every time I get poorly now it seems to go on my chest, I feel a bit wheezy.
“Going to the gym is my medicine and training is what I did for my mental health, but I wasn’t able to do that physically because I was too poorly. Any exertion, any exercise, led me to be breathless. I’d cough and would go backwards. I had to ensure I was well enough to start training again.”
Sam got in touch with us and was offered a place on our Covid Recovery Programme, which aims to help people living with the long-term symptoms of Covid-19.
“The thing that benefitted me most was training in water,” she adds. “Being in the pool took some weight off me and helped with some of the pressure on my chest. That helped me breathe better.
“There was a sense of affirmation that I wasn’t going crazy and it was a real thing, and that the emotions and feelings that I’d been left with after having Covid were real – that it wasn’t just me.
“The other participants were very much the same, feeling the same, so it was nice to talk to them and gain that reassurance from them.
“That’s what the programme helped me do, navigate those feelings and emotions and the journey that I’d been on. It definitely helped me process it and be more accepting and more kind to myself.”
Sam also recently found out she’s perimenopausal and wants to share some of the symptoms she’s living with, so more women are aware of how they can impact you day-to-day.
“I’ve started on HRT which has helped massively with a lot of the symptoms, very much so with the brain fog and my moods and emotions – I’m a lot less emotional now,” says Sam. “I’m an emotional person anyway, but I was really emotional, I’d cry at everything, the self-doubt, the lack of belief in myself. Since starting on HRT, that’s really improved.
“I’m aware that the Fire Fighters Charity has a menopause programme, which is something that I would explore following my experience on the Covid Recovery Programme, which was really beneficial and helpful to me. I could only see that the menopause programme would do exactly the same.”
You can find out more about our upcoming residential programmes here:
If you feel you’d benefit from our health and wellbeing support, you can call our Support Line on 0800 389 8820, make an enquiry online or visit the ‘Access Support’ tab in My Fire Fighters Charity.
And remember – if you’re feeling suicidal, you can call our Crisis Line 24 hours a day on 0300 373 0896.