Weymouth woman's fight against long Covid amid inquiry

Sammie McFarland, 47, developed Covid in 2020, along with her daughter, and says the illness has left her with a body that 'doesn't function like it used to.'

She continues to battle long Covid three years on, as does her teenage daughter, and now uses a wheelchair when out for a prolonged period of time.

Sammie was forced to give up her job as a health and wellbeing coach and her life has completely changed.

While her condition makes her life more difficult, Sammie is a keen advocate in holding the government to account.

She is calling on the government to recognise that mistakes were made when informing the public on the dangers of the condition.

Her journey to get to the stage where her experiences' are being heard at the Covid inquiry has not been easy.

Sammie said: “It felt like I had a vice around my head.

“I had bone pain, muscle aches, fatigue, a cough, heart palpitations, cognitive issues, there was a period that I could not speak properly."

She believes the advice she was given to by doctors at the time contributed to the deterioration of her and her daughter’s conditions.

Having been told to go out and exercise, Sammie and her daughter were then bedridden for eight months, and she believes actions taken at the highest levels of government are to blame.

She added: “It's infuriating, I think that if the government put out different messaging, then the NHS could put out different messaging, and it would filter through and down to patients and actually have a meaningful impact.

“But everybody was looking the other way, and dealing with the firefighting of acute infections, and not showing any interest in long Covid.

"That's resulted in a lack of research care, and treatment options.”

Sammie is part of a group of long Covid advocates speaking at the Covid inquiry (Image: Long Covid Kids)

Sammie was keen to help others in a similar position and offer her own experiences for people to learn from and decided to go online to speak with other long Covid sufferers.

Eventually she set up the charity Long Covid Kids, which helps to support children who suffer with the symptoms caused by the disease.

“At the beginning, we were treated like freaks. We were treated like we were scaremongering and horrifically trolled on social media.

“There were spin articles that came out, to have the gumption to keep going was something that I look back on.

“I'm not sure how we did it. But we just felt so compelled to give other people the best choice for the best chance. So, we just kept going.”

“I know it wasn't our job. But we had this information, and we wanted to get it out. So other people would have the ability to make better choices - we were the Guinea pigs."

Three years on, and Sammie, from Weymouth, is still battling with long Covid, enduring many of the symptoms associated with the disease.

This means she has to use a wheelchair when out for extended periods of time a far cry from her days as a fitness and wellbeing coach.

She added: "It has left me with a body that doesn't function like it use to. At the time I got Covid I was teaching physical fitness 20 hours a week and going to the gym in my spare time - I literally didn't sit down. 

"My whole life was living health and wellbeing, teaching health and well being - that has what has made it harder I think""

Sammie is keen to hold the government to account over its failings to not treating long Covid seriously enough and is part of a group of advocates, known as the Long Covid Group, being heard at the Covid inquiry.

She continued: "The central question the Long Covid Group is asking is, since long Covid was foreseeable, why was it not foreseen? This is because the government had information from previous pandemics and they didn’t listen to science."