Wendy receives life-changing treatment after 15-month long Covid agony

8 July 2022

“I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel,” says a Federation member who received life-changing treatment for long Covid after feeling “like a prisoner in her own home” over a year after being first diagnosed with the virus.

DI Wendy Bird, who has been an officer for West Midlands Police for nearly 30 years, wants to shine the light on hyperbaric oxygen therapy after she received the treatment to combat long Covid.

She was initially diagnosed with long Covid in March 2021, after first being infected shortly after turning 50 in January 2021. Since then, Wendy reveals that she has “never recovered”, having lived with a number of long Covid symptoms including severe fatigue, chronic headaches, tachycardia - when the heart rate is too fast - POTS (Postural Tachycardia Syndrome - an abnormal heart rate that occurs after sitting or standing), post-exertional malaise (the worsening of symptoms caused by chronic fatigue), daily nose bleeds and joint pain.

 “At my worst, I couldn’t even manage a five-minute walk and didn’t have the energy to wash myself,” says mum-of-two Wendy who, before testing positive for Covid, was training for a marathon.

“Brain fog was one of the worst bit for me. I could only concentrate for 20 minutes in one go before I had to sleep or relax. On Mother’s Day, I spent half an hour in the supermarket but then had to sleep for three hours.  I couldn’t even listen to music or watch TV as it affected me neurologically.

“And this didn’t just impact me - how could I look after my children when I struggled to even get on the toilet? Simply walking up the stairs meant I got breathless and it felt like a heavy weight on my chest with someone squeezing my heart tightly.

“My confidence was completely gone. I was super slim before catching Covid and very fit, but I’ve since put on a lot of weight.

“To put it simply, I felt like the same person, just in somebody else’s body. I honestly felt like my life had been put on pause.”

As a result of her condition, Wendy was forced to take nine months off work, before making a gradual return to the job.

“At nine months post initial infection I went back to work and I was having to choose between working for an hour or showering, I didn’t have the energy for both,” she explained. 

 With both her physical health and mental wellbeing deteriorating, Wendy found herself searching for urgent treatment. That is when she came across Midland Diving Chamber, a hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment at Hospital of St Cross in Rugby, which involves people sitting in a chamber with a mask on breathing in pure oxygen for a total time of one hour and a half per session, every day for two to three weeks. 

The chamber looks like a deep-sea diving chamber and simulates the level of pressure usually found 14 metres underwater, which causes pure oxygen to be forced into the body, being absorbed by cells and prompting regeneration.

The therapy, which is generally used to deal with decompression sickness in divers, costs around £200 per session.

A month after completing the treatment - a total of 21 sessions altogether - Wendy says she finally feels like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

“I’m walking again,” she said, “OK, I’m not climbing hills but I walked 13,000 steps the other night and 20,000 in one go, on holiday.  I genuinely never thought I would be doing that again. 

“There was a point where I wondered if that would be my life forever.  I asked myself if I would ever run or if I would ever go out for a meal again.  I felt like a prisoner in my own home. 

“I’m finally able to work more hours and exercise again.  I feel like I’ve been re-born.  I’m finally getting the old Wendy back.  And I’ll never take life for granted.”

Although she has not yet fully recovered, Wendy says she is now looking forward to the future.

“It’s onwards and upwards from here. Yes, the treatment was expensive but it was worth it to get my life back,” she added.

By sharing her story, Wendy hopes she can help others in her situation, who might be suffering from long Covid and looking for treatment.

She ended: “Life was isolating.  I know how alone and down people can feel and know there are other people like me who are suffering at all ranks.  I want them to know they’re not alone and there is light at the end of the tunnel.”