Melburnians describe harrowing Covid impacts almost two years later

A Victorian woman who has suffered the effects of ‘long Covid’ is urging people not to play Russian roulette with their health.

A woman with long Covid has made a desperate plea to Victorians to not play Russian roulette with their health, describing the debilitating effects the virus has had on her life.

Kim Franahan, 49, and her husband Dave contracted the virus in 2020 from a cleaner.

While her husband only had mild symptoms, Mrs Franahan ended up in ICU for six days, where her lungs collapsed and she required a constant flow of oxygen.

The virus completely stripped her of dignity and made her unable to go to the bathroom or wash herself while in hospital.

“I didn’t know if this was as bad as it was going to get, but didn’t now how it could get any worse,” she said.

“If I’d got the Delta variant before vaccines were introduced, I truly don’t know if I’d be standing here today talking to you.

Kim Franahan told reporters about her painful experience with Covid. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

After a slow recovery after leaving hospital, Mrs Franahan began to notice the long-term effects of the disease.

While most people who catch Covid get better relatively quickly, some people worldwide have had long-term problems after recovering from the original infection.

Two months after leaving hospital, Ms Franahan’s hair started to fall out

“A couple of months after leaving hospital, unexpectedly, my hair started falling out and I lost about three-quarters of it over a six-week period,” she said.

“This temporary hair loss was due to the trauma I had experienced in getting Covid.”

Other ongoing issues have plagued her more than a year later.

“Pre-Covid I had no underlying health conditions and was a reasonably healthy woman – 14 months later I feel like I’ve aged 10 years,” she said.

“My fitness has been severely impacted, I have brain fog at times and fatigue, it’s taking a lot more effort to do the same daily activities.”

She said the debilitating disease had made her feel like a lesser version of herself.

“We are so lucky in this country to have access to vaccines and great healthcare,” she said.

“Don’t play Russian roulette with your health or of those you love. Please get vaccinated.”

Covid victim Will Smith was a promising athlete before he contracted the illness. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Globally, one in five people who have been infected with Covid still had symptoms after five weeks, with one in seven still seeing symptoms after 12 weeks.

Surveys have identified hundreds of other symptoms which affected ten different organ systems and included symptoms such as hallucinations, vision and hearing changes, short term memory loss and speech and language troubles.

Melbourne athlete Will Smith, 24, contracted the virus in March 2020 and has been battling the after-effects ever since.

He said his initial illness was incredibly frightening, despite being deemed a mild case and not being placed in hospital.

“The strain against your body, trying to expand your lungs against his invisible force, struggling to breathe,” he said.

“Take my word for it, it is not a place you want to be.”

Mr Smith, who had just completed four years of college athletics in America, now has such severe fatigue that he can’t get out of bed.

“These days a relapse can be brought on something as simple as walking the dog or kicking the football,” he said.

“The impacts are I can now go through long stretches where I am mostly okay but still nowhere near normal.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – NewsWire Photos, OCTOBER 5, 2021. The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews during at Covid press conference in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

The Victorian duo fronted the media on Tuesday – the same day Victoria broke the national record for the number of Covid-19 cases reported.

The state hit 1763 infections with Melbourne’s north and west driving the majority of cases, and a spike in cases in the southeast.

The government has embarked on a vaccine blitz targeting 27 suburbs in Melbourne where less than 80 per cent of people had received a first dose of the vaccine.

Premier Daniel Andrews said areas such as Campbellfield, Frankston North, Kensington and St Kilda would be targeted in the vaccine blitz.

“With community transmission as wide and deep as it is now, right across the community, this is not something that’s for someone else to worry about. It’s across the whole of metropolitan Melbourne and we just have to act accordingly,” he said.

“No one is enjoying this. Every one wishes it was different. But it’s a global pandemic. There’s only so many things that we can control.

“We need to focus on the things that we can control, like getting a first dose and a second dose of these Covid vaccines. Together with following the rules – as challenging as that is.”

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Originally published as Melburnians describe harrowing Covid impacts almost two years later