Support Delphine's Path to Recovery from Long COVID

Dear friends and supporters,

Challenging times require extraordinary measures. As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with long COVID since February 2023. It’s been an exhausting journey—physically, emotionally, and financially—which is why I’m setting up this GoFundMe campaign.

In order to become a licensed dietitian in a clinical setting, I went back to school to complete my nutrition internship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Six months into my internship, I contracted COVID-19. After being bedridden for a week, I returned to my internship as soon as I tested negative again. However, I quickly realized something was terribly wrong. I struggled with tasks that were once routine—I couldn’t recall what patients told me, writing patient notes took forever, I couldn’t breathe properly, and just walking in the hospital to see patients was exhausting. It was confusing and frustrating, and I couldn’t function at work or home. My husband took over most household responsibilities while helping me with assignments. With his support, I completed my internship with a two-month delay, but I was utterly exhausted after I finished, spending most of my time between bed and doctor’s appointments.

Like many other long-haulers, I went through the entire battery of healthcare providers, including cardiologists, pulmonologists, rheumatologists, endocrinologists, immunologists, neurologists, and gastroenterologists. I was eventually diagnosed with autonomic dysfunction, meaning the virus affected my nervous system which controls my organs including my heart, lungs, gut, and blood vessels. This condition has caused dysfunctional blood flow in my limbs and brain (resulting in brain fog), high heart rate, exercise intolerance, and issues with body temperature regulation.

Although I’ve taken more than two dozen different medications and supplements to manage the symptoms, nothing has significantly improved my condition. Physical therapy, beta blockers, autonomic testing, acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, stellate ganglion nerve block, meditation, and breathing exercises only provided temporary relief. Dealing with this debilitating condition has prevented me from going back to work and earn an income. The extreme fatigue has isolated me, forcing me to focus on the essentials: sleep and feeding myself. The brain fog has also prohibited me to prepare for the Registered Dietitian exam, the last prerequisite to get my license to work with patients as a dietitian. For over a year, I saw little improvement until I tried hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), a treatment recommended by a few healthcare providers. I was unfamiliar with HBOT, but after a trial of nine sessions, I started to feel more energized and hopeful. Even my Oura ring - a tracking device – registered improvements in heart rhythm variability, an objective measure of stress. However, due to financial constraints, I had to put the therapy on hold, and within a week, I felt back into the long-COVID abyss. Clinical studies have shown that 40 to 60 HBOT sessions are needed for obtaining long-lasting effects. (Clinical study 1 , Review article )

The journey to reclaim my health has been financially stressful. Despite having good healthcare insurance, most treatments for long COVID are only partially covered or not covered at all. Because I was a trainee for two years prior to contracting COVID, I did not have an income and therefore I was not eligible for short-term disability. As such, specialized medical testing and treatments, including supplements and medication, have cost us more than $30,000 out-of-pocket in the past year, leaving us with no room to afford hyperbaric oxygen therapy and complementary treatments.

With this GoFundMe campaign, I aim to raise $12,500 to cover for 60 HBOT sessions, 15 functional neurological therapy sessions to retrain the brain for autonomic dysfunction, and medical consultations. (Updated estimate as of August 4) Based on my own experience, HBOT is the only treatment that has shown significant progress toward recovery, and I am hopeful that 60 sessions will enable me to live my life fully again.

Delphine’s Treatment Breakdown:

$7,500: 60 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy @ $125/session

$4,200: 15 Functional neurology therapy sessions ($280/session) to balance the autonomic nervous system.

$800: Medical consultations

Addendum Nov 2024: $4,000: maintenance HBOT (2 sessions/week for 4 months = 32 sessions)

My husband has been supporting me through this (disclaimer: he wrote most of this text for my campaign), but we need more help. Your support to get me back on my feet means the world to me. Whether through a donation or simply sharing this campaign with others, any help you can provide is deeply appreciated.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity and support.

With gratitude,

Delphine and Jeroen