You’re NOT Shielders struggle after long months of fear & isolation
SHIELDERS who have barely left home during the pandemic opened up about their loneliness in support of the Sunday Mirror’s You Are Not Alone campaign.
They spoke ahead of Blue Monday tomorrow – thought to be the most depressing day of the year.
More than two million clinically vulnerable people have been told to stay at home, and many have revealed how they feel “totally isolated”.
The Sunday Mirror is calling on the Government to help the nine million lonely people in the UK.
Égon Turci, 26, has been shielding after undergoing brain surgery last May, followed by chemo. He has been at home with his brother in Streatham, South London, with his parents thousands of miles away in his native Brazil.
He said: “The reality of cancer makes you feel so isolated from the rest of the world anyway, and then you have the reality of the pandemic on top of that.”
He had support from the Teenage Cancer Trust and says it helped.
Carol Liddle, 60, has left her home only to attend hospital appointments since last March. She has severe COPD, and in December she was diagnosed with bowel cancer. She says medics can now only offer her palliative care.
Carol, a full-time carer for husband Terry, 65, from Wigan, Lancs, said: “I am terrified. I feel helpless.” The mum of one, who receives support from the British Lung Foundation, added: “There needs to be more support.”
Izzie Jani-Friend, 22, has been shielding for 10 months with her partner and dad at home in Forest Row, East Sussex. The writer has cystic fibrosis.
Izzie, who campaigns for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, said: “I was a busy person before the pandemic, and now my world is one room. I’ve definitely been lonely.”
In a bid to tackle loneliness on Blue Monday, the Jo Cox Foundation is set to host a Virtual Festival of Connection as part of its Great Winter Get Together (greatgettogether.org/winter_get_ together). It will include a DJ set with ex-EastEnders actress Patsy Palmer and a bake-along with GBBO alumnus Ugne Bubnaityte. Ambassador Kim Leadbeater said she hopes the event will “blast the January – and Covid – blues away”.