Long Covid Woman’s warning after battling virus ‘since December’
AWOMAN who believes she is the UK’S longest Covid-19 sufferer has told of her frightening symptoms – ten months after catching the virus.
Nic Kimberley, 53, says she was struck down with the disease last Christmas Day after flying to the Caribbean for a winter holiday.
She believes she caught it a few days earlier while mingling with Chinese passengers who landed at Gatwick Airport from Wuhan – the city where the pandemic originated.
Nic spent the entire week of her holiday in bed with a fever, lack of taste and smell and a cough – all classic symptoms of coronavirus.
When she returned to her home in Cheltenham her symptoms persisted and she went to her GP, who was baffled by her illness and suggested it could be swine flu.
It was finally confirmed that she had caught Covid-19 when she was tested in June. Scientists said the earliest known person to contract coronavirus in the UK was a 75-year-old woman from Nottinghamshire, who tested positive on February 21 – two months after Nicola fell ill. Nic, a former BBC radio journalist who now works as a self-employed financial advisor, believes she is the longest Covid-19 sufferer in the UK. She said: “I was going through a divorce so I was booked to go to St Lucia for eight nights over the Christmas period.
“On December 22 I arrived at Gatwick Airport, on that day seven flights came in from Wuhan.
“I stayed at the airport hotel that night, obviously the people who got off the flights were in the same shopping queues and the hotel.
“It’s when I’m sure I caught it.
“I flew out and my first symptom, loss of taste, was Christmas Day. On December 27, that was when I dropped in a pool of sweats, a horrendous temperature, cold chills, stabbing pains, a cough, kidney and a bladder infection. I spent the whole time (on holiday) in bed.”
Nic first had blood tests in February which showed “abnormal results”.
It was only confirmed in June, when she had a plasma test after taking part in the Oxford University trials, that she had Covid-19.
She said: “I want people to know just how awful this disease is. I am not usually able to wake up in the day at all and I rely heavily on friends and neighbours to provide me with food. People are stupid if they don’t understand how serious this disease is.”
Since returning home, Nic has struggled to keep working and was in and out of hospital for months before it was confirmed she had caught Covid-19.
She said: “It was found my various organs and glands had not been working properly for quite a while. I lose my eyesight for a few hours here and there, then it comes back blurry. It is flaring virus, it sits and hides inside the body before coming out.
“It is the pattern for long Covid people like myself, that they are seeing. I have never lost the crippling arthritic and joint pain. I have never lost the chest pain. I find it difficult to breathe.”
She continued: “It is the most horrendous disease, it takes everything you have away from you. You are scared to go to sleep as you are worried you won’t wake up in the morning. I have no idea if I will ever be fully better.”
She is now using her experience to warn young people to take the virus more seriously. She said: “I used to be a BBC radio journalist, I used to be eloquent and now my short-term memory is gone, I would be beaten at Scrabble by a two-year-old.
“I have gained strength from the support groups that had started to pop up, including the Long Covid Support Group. It is the largest group, it has snowballed and we are supporting each other.
“Young people think they are immune. I get so angry when I see the Covidiots – they need to know the reality.”