Sharne Wood, eighteen, from Staffordshire, was diagnosed three years ago with aplastic anemia, a blood disorder.
Severe aplastic anemia is often treated with a stem cell transplant.
The student, who is due to start university in September, plans to continue protecting himself until there is more certainty that there will not be another wave of COVID-19 in the UK .
Below is her written account of the life and struggles she faced during the pandemic.
Living with aplastic anemia is really difficult at the best of times, but during a huge pandemic that takes over life as we know it, it’s an absolute nightmare.
The symptoms I endure on a daily basis range from mild fatigue and perhaps a headache to lethargic muscles, active dizziness, severe nausea and the inability to leave my bed for the day. You never really know overnight what you’re going to endure.
While the pandemic remains the priority right now, the thousands of people with blood cancers or blood disorders, like me, simply cannot be forgotten.
Our needs did not go away when COVID-19 emerged.
Patients with blood cancer or blood disease are immunocompromised and more vulnerable to COVID-19, studies revealing that 34% of blood cancer patients who contracted the virus did not survived.
This risk is significantly higher than in the general population. The NHS is also grappling with a cancer backlog and some of us are struggling to access the treatment and care we desperately need.
Over the past 14 months or so, I have struggled a lot more. Access to healthcare professionals has been less easy due to service closures and temporary suspensions of essential appointments, and drugs have been so far out of reach because the entire industry must concentrate on fighting the virus as best she can.
As important as it was of course, people like me with medical care …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-03 20:05:00
