Why this Sheffield cancer nurse with enduring Covid symptoms set up a website to help others struggling

Jane Ireson has suffered with enduring symptoms of coronavirus.

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After suffering with persistent symptoms following a positive coronavirus test, Jane Ireson set up a recovery website for the sharing of experiences. Laura Reid reports.

The past few months have been a “scary and confusing” time for 42-year-old Jane Ireson.

On March 24, a day after being tested for coronavirus, she received a positive result. It was not what the hospital cancer nurse expected - and the turbulent 14 weeks that have followed have been an evolving and unclear journey of recovery.

“I had a cold for a few weeks and I started to get a bit worse,” she reflects. “I was able to get a test through work. I was worried about exposing other people if I did have it.

The cancer nurse set up a website to help others and share experiences.

“I lost my sense of taste and I was really achy and shivery and really tired. I was having headaches and had a bit of a sore throat. I didn’t have a cough though and I felt like I had a temperature but I didn’t actually have one. I just felt like I had a bad cold.”

The virus progressed and caused unpredictable swings in Jane’s health. The mother-of-two was repeatedly left feeling better one day before being struck down again by another wave of the illness, with new complaints such as a rash, dizziness and palpitations.

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Though things are now improving for Jane, who is also a PhD student at Leeds Beckett University, symptoms of breathlessness and fatigue have been the most enduring.

“There’s been certain symptoms that have been persistent and have been there off and on throughout,” she says.

“They’re acute now. I’ve not had it for a while where I’ve had to be stuck in bed for days on end. But everyday I feel limited by what I can do due to ongoing symptoms.

“I’m definitely better overall but it’s now about 100 days since. In the beginning, I thought it was going to be like if you get a bad cold or flu - you have it and then you feel better.

“It’s been really scary and confusing thinking what’s going on? Why do I still feel ill? Why do I feel better then worse again? This ongoing tiredness and breathlessness is worrying really.”