"Before I got sick, I was an avid runner. After I got sick, I was exhausted and in pain."
I am Giovanni Gordon Clarke, an undergraduate student at the University of Vermont. I am here to share my personal journey as a pre-med student living with ME/CFS and Long COVID.
Since I was a child, my dream was to practice Pediatrics, Neuroscience, or Emergency Medicine.
But when I was 14, I started to have my own health struggles. Before I got sick, I was an avid runner. After I got sick, I was exhausted and in pain. Throughout high school my pleas to my doctors for proper care fell on deaf ears.
In 2020, during my freshman year at college, where I was a pre-med student, I contracted COVID-19 and my chronic condition worsened. Then my health deteriorated even more after receiving the COVID vaccines. And yet I continued to struggle to get answers from my providers.
Finally, a year ago I met a rare compassionate healthcare provider who diagnosed me with ME/CFS, and with their support, along with my own research, I am starting to see modest improvements in my health.
To read the rest of Giovanni's story, click here.
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