I moved from London to Leeds in June 2021 to settle down with my fiancé and start a family. A few weeks before the move I had the first Covid jab and had an awful reaction. It's a really long story but the shock of the vaccine sent my immune system into overdrive and triggered an awful chronic illness that I've been battling since. I was compelely off work for 6 months and have only managed to return part-time from home. I've been pretty much housebound for the entire time, told to do whatever I can not to catch covid and, needless to say, had to give up this year's festival ticket.
As you can probably imagine, having a debilitating chronic illness that completely turns your life upside down is extremely difficult to live with, causing depression and anxiety to worsen. I suffer from a whole host of physical, neurological and congnitive symptoms, I can't exercise and have a very strict diet due to a whole host of intolerances. Worse still, the NHS wanted nothing to do with me, they wouldn't consider the vaccine has caused this nor did I get past a GP. I spent - and am still spending - literally thousands on private doctors, who have diagnosed with a few different things and have all been inundated with vaccine injuries.
Then my very close friend died in October. He was on holiday with his family and had a heart attack in a jacuzzi in front of his 5 year-old daughter. He was 36. A post-mortem showed that the heart attack was caused by myocarditis, which the NHS believed was caused by the vaccine (look it up). I'm not anti-vax, not by any stretch, but I strongly believe there'll be a lot of things that come out about this in years to come. There's a huge community of vaccine injured people, it's a real thing despite what you're led to believe. Though, for most, the vaccines have been safe - my friend and I were two of the unlucky few.
Anyway, after a friend dying, 3 different doctors and thousands of pounds spent, I finally started to get somewhere with a diagnosis in the summer. Certain tests were coming back positive and I had a name for what's going on with me. Couple that with the my partner and I buying our first house together after renting, things were starting to look up.
Literally 2 months after moving into our dream home, out of the blue my partner decided to end our 6-year relationship. This chronic illness has consumed me so much that I wasn't aware my relationship was on the rocks. I just wasn't getting any help from NHS doctors so I became obsessed with trying to figure this all out myself, leaving my fiancée without a partner. Not only have I lost the person I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, I stand to lose thousands of my life savings as we have to sell the house. I'm 37 years old, have a chronic illness, unable to work full-time or live a normal life and now living back living with my parents.
So a really shit 18 months and counting. I'm not sure it could have been any worse. I'm seeing a therapist to try and make sense of it all but it's been - and still is a - massive struggle. Dealing with a breakup is hard enough, it's ten times worse when you're battling with a chronic illness too.