I am writing this on behalf of my beautiful, little brother who heartbreakingly passed away on 6 January 2025, never to even know the truth of long covid himself.
Since Christmas 2022 when George contracted Covid he had been suffering with severe brain fog, fatigue, anxiety, vivid dreams, insomnia and depression which was entirely out of character. He suffered terribly with this, telling everyone around him that he “knew something was wrong with him but couldn’t work out what.”
His GP entirely went down the mental health route and therefore this is what we all believed was the issue and tried to support him with.
George spent so much money on private counselling to try and overcome his mental health issues so he could try and get some sleep, as he said he felt exhausted all the time. Yet, he still did his best to keep up with his running and cycling and said “he was trying to beat this thing.” He was the physically healthiest and fittest person I have ever known.
So imagine the heartbreaking devastation his family felt on 6 January 2025 to find he had tragically and unexpectedly passed away in his sleep overnight. Due to his misdiagnosis, the first thought to make sense of this was to imagine he had taken his own life, although we knew this was not in his character at all.
Two weeks later we received the report from the coroners office. George had viral pneumonitis, leading to a thrombotic event, which then caused a fatal ischemic stroke. The report stated that this “had all the hallmarks of a Covid death.”
Whilst we believe George must have been reinfected with Covid again in November 2024 for it to have built to this point, there is no doubt that George was suffering from long covid prior to this, and this final bout of the virus he had caught most recently, pushed his body to the edge.
I hope George’s story helps raise awareness of the seriousness of long covid. His family and friends are left with a devastating hole in their lives that can never be replaced due to this horrendous infection, yet still there is not enough awareness or support for those that are suffering.
As his sister I will do everything I can to spread this message loud and clear in honour of my darling little brother, to try and prevent any other family having to go through this heartbreaking loss due to misdiagnosis again. George knew there was something seriously wrong with him, that was driving his mental health suffering, but no one would listen.
