A local family has spoken out about their experience with Long COVID, with their symptoms lasting an entire year.
The Mountford-Hills family fell ill with COVID-19 in March 2020, around the time that the nation went into the very first lockdown.
Charlie, 37, her husband Zed, 41, and their five children - Nico, 15, Beck, 12, Indiana, 10, Emmett, 8, and Mimi, 5 - have all been suffering ever since, with it particularly affecting the children.
The family has Long COVID, a condition where people who have had COVID-19 continue to feel the effects of the virus after becoming initially ill.
Symptoms of Long COVID vary from person to person, and Charlie says from her experience that the list is "extensive".
These symptoms for her family include headaches, eye issues, nose bleeds, body rashes, horrific tummy pains, gastric issues, severe lethargy, allergic reactions, peeling hands, and feet and mouth ulcers.
"It's such a long list that at times you can't believe that they've all been related to this illness," Charlie said.
Emmett said he struggles to sleep at night. "I get a really short amount of breath, so I have to wake up and take a deep breath to get more air," he explained.
"When I'm exercising I always get short of breath," Indiana added. "I'm struggling to breathe and I can't really run around as much or keep going every time I play.
"One time I was in the living room just watching telly and I got this massive chest pain that sent me to hospital. I've just been really sick - getting these headaches and itchy legs, and I can't do much about it."
Charlie, a colonic hydrotherapist, has not been able to return to work yet.
"It's been really tough because obviously my husband and I weren't well either," she said.
"So dealing with being unwell ourselves, and then dealing with five children who are sick, and two who were seemingly much worse and not really getting any support or answers, was really worrying, stressful, mentally tough as well as going through the physical illness."
The family have been getting help from a support group, Long COVID Kids, which wants specialist clinics to be set up for children with the condition.
Charlie said the ordeal the family has been through "really made me question my sanity at times".
She added: "Long COVID centres are being set up, but they're not for children, so there is nowhere for them to be referred to.
"I'm really worried about the long-term health issues."
Original content by Sky News
