By Rochelle Rankin
LCK Support Group Team USA
22 October 2021
Katie was 15 years old and a competitive swimmer who practiced 5 to 6 days a week for up to 2.5 hours a day. She loved swimming and her heart was with her swim team. They practiced together, encouraged each other, and played together.
On February 23, she tested positive for Covid and overnight things changed.
For two weeks, Katie had a light sensitivity headache, exhaustion, sleepless nights, and pain. She went to the hospital to be told to go home and take ibuprofen as: “she is a kid and will be fine”.
Some progress
After a month, though her headaches had subsided, Katie still had no energy, could not lift her phone, could barely walk, and was still exhausted, sleepless, and in pain.
At week 6, Katie chopped off most of her hair because she couldn’t stand in the shower long enough to take care of it. Katie started wearing compression socks to help keep the leg pain duller and she was finally able to start moving around the house more. To give a comparison, without the socks Katie describes the leg pain as “heavy, and I feel like I just completed a triathlon.” It felt like she had been running miles, swimming miles, and biking miles. With the socks, Katie says it felt like a short workout, like the short 1 hours days where the swim coaches gave them a break.
Months of struggle
In April, Katie was feeling better and we (her parents) thought that maybe swimming would be like physical therapy. It would get her moving, and help with the leg pain. We sent her to 1 practice.
After practice, she had to lean on a friend as she walked to my car. She did not get up and out of bed for 5 days after that. This cycle happened in May and then we decided that was not going to work.
In June, once school was out, we started a Covid recovery program which involved breathing, diet, and small physical activities. The physical activity started at 5 minutes a day and increased gradually. Katie got the Pfizer vaccine and the cardiologist started her on 6 medications a day. Katie Improved.
Improvement fueling hope
In August, after test results showed improvement, Katie was down to 1 pill a day and feeling MUCH better. She missed swimming and wanted to do something. A friend told her that the YMCA has lifeguard jobs available and Katie applied. The lifeguard certification was tough on Katie. It is a 3-day certification with multiple tests and candidates have to pull a “victim” out of the water. She was excited and nervous. After day 1, Katie was convinced that she was failing and would never be able to do it. However, she stuck with it. After the final tests on day 3, Katie PASSED and was a certified lifeguard.
Katie is now working as a lifeguard. She completed the monthly in-service training and can do the physical parts of the job. She takes longer to recover from the monthly training than she ever did while swimming competitively.
Katie still has leg pain, occasional fatigue, and is still seeing a lot of doctors; but her improvement has given her hope that she did not have in June.
LongCovidKids.org is a patient-led advocacy and support organisation led by Sammie Mcfarland for families of children with Long Covid. Our story started with a short film on the long-lasting symptoms of Covid in children.
We are supporting research with The Long Covid Kids Study with PeopleWith
Each Sunday we send out a newsletter providing a weekly round-up of statistics, the latest reports in the media, current research, and LCK news. Read previous issues and SIGN UP
If your child experiences any symptoms that indicate they are unwell, it COULD be COVID-19, and you should get them a test to help identify if it is a current Covid infection. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.