“I’ve had the flu twice as an adult and this is not like the flu at all. When you get the flu, you get the symptoms, but then you’re back to normal right away. That didn’t happen to me. I’m still dealing with lingering symptoms.”

My whole life I was told I had a mental health disorder and my problems were all in my head. When I found out that it was Narcolepsy and Cataplexy and it could be fixed, it changed my life. I had five good years like that. Then, COVID-19 happened and my whole world changed again.

“I'm old enough to remember the polio epidemic. I must have been six or seven years old. We had it really bad in Caldwell County and I have relatives who are still paralyzed from it. I was very young, but I do remember schools being closed, which was a big thing.”

“Compared to MS, my COVID experience is nothing. I've had a cold that was worse. It was just an inconvenience.”

“One night I laid down and I couldn't get up the next morning. I couldn’t move nothing.”

“Ambulances and firetrucks arrived that night around 09:30PM. I sat downstairs in the pouring rain. The medics stood far away shouting, ‘Mam stay there. We’ll come to you!’ It felt like I had the plague or something. I watched them suit up. Then, I crawled my way up the steps into the ambulance. That evening I tested positive for COVID-19.”

“Three months after recovering, COVID reignited my rare autoimmune skin condition.”

“My body could not have survived this in the state it is in without the hand of God intervening.”

"The second day in the hospital, my health started to decline. It's as if my body was starting to shut down. I felt like death was in my room. I literally felt like I was dying..."

“I don't know if it was an angel or God, but my lungs were shutting down and they were trying to weigh out options for me to get more air. Then…”

“I was diagnosed May 16, 2016 with Multiple sclerosis (MS). I've had it since 2006 undiagnosed. I managed it up until recently with COVID.”

“My body doesn’t respond to bacteria and viruses in the way a healthy person’s immune system responds. You’re supposed to fight it. I kind of invite it over for lunch and help it hurt me.”