A Lancashire non-profit organisation is launching a new peer-to-peer panel discussion to show the realities of living with long-Covid. 

In celebration of International Long-Covid Awareness Day on Wednesday, March 15, Brain Health Breakthrough CIC are hosting the discussion “Long-Covid myth busters”, today (Tuesday).

Long-Covid symptoms affect 1.5 million people daily and 380,000 people’s daily activities have been 'limited a lot', according to the ONS.

Symptoms can include post-exertional malaise, meaning any activity or stress can cause a flare up of symptoms, even 24 or more hours after the event.

Since July 2020, Brain Health Breakthrough CIC has been running an online and face-to-face long-Covid peer support group in Darwen.

Brain Health Breakthrough CIC was founded in 2018 by Karen Haworth, an expert with living experience of long-Covid.

It started to provide social and emotional support for individuals with brain injury and their careers but was soon adapted to help other communities in need of support.

Karen said: “People think that somebody with long-Covid can just get up, you know, push through and they’ll be fine.

“What people don’t understand is you do something on one day and the effects of that can happen on that day, the day after…and you can have extreme fatigue and can’t get out of bed.

“So, you have to pace and plan what you spend your energy on.”

If you need support or to find out more, e mail karen@brainhealthbreakthrough.co.uk or visit brainhealthbreakthrough.co.uk