Hi everyone, I'm Hana! And I'm putting this fundraiser together for my dear friend Akari.

We met in 2021 working in the service industry, and over the years have become best friends and each other's support system. Long Covid is a complex and multi-symptom disease that has severely impacted Akari’s capacity to support herself financially, and has affected her ability to live life fully. I have watched her live with debilitating fatigue for over two years, and I’m here to help gather financial support so she can take time off work to rest and fully recover.

Akari was once extremely active, and an important contributor to the local bay area food and wine community. This all came to a halt in 2023, with only small, improvements since then. A common side-effect of Akari’s Long Covid is severe multi-day crashes from overexerting herself - this looks like a struggle to even get out of bed or even feed herself.

As many of us in the service industry know - our work is physically demanding, and this has forced Akari to significantly cut back her work hours, completely change the way she socializes, and to fully stop engaging in activities that used to bring her joy and a sense of self in order to avoid/reduce the severity and frequency of her crashes.

Over the last 2+ years, Akari has spent most of her savings in order to seek treatment and to account for working less hours due to her chronic fatigue. I'm asking for her community to help her during this time, so she can pause work and focus on healing.

The funds will go towards:

Any amount helps <3. Sharing the page helps just as much, especially with anyone in the long covid community who might recognize her experience. Thank you for reading, and for caring about Akari!