Here, you can find any of the interviews on this site.
In May 2020 Robert completely lost his sense of taste and smell which profoundly affected his appetite and his daily work. His symptoms have persisted and he wonders whether his sense of smell and taste will ever return. He hasn’t…
Robert is a chef. He lives with his wife and primary school-aged children. He describes his ethnicity as white.
In March 2020 Adele became unwell. Initially she had ‘textbook’ symptoms of Covid – a sore throat, temperature, cough and headache. After a week she became very unwell. After experiencing a wide range of symptoms, more recently she has been…
Adele lives with her partner. She worked full time as a doctor and has made a partial return to work. Adele describes her ethnicity as white.
Jennifer had Covid in March 2020. She developed symptoms of long Covid a few weeks after thinking she had recovered from Covid. It has taken over a year to begin to recover. She has found it helpful to share her…
Jennifer lives with her partner. She is a self-employed Sports/Remedial Massage Therapist. Jennifer describes her ethnicity as white.
Judy has struggled to recover from long Covid for over a year at the time of the interview. She continues to experience symptoms, including post-exertional malaise, headaches and occasional breathlessness. Judy was interviewed in April 2021.
Judy lives her partner and 10-year-old child. She works as a university academic. Judy describes her ethnicity as white.
Jamie had cold or flu-like symptoms, but no cough, early in the pandemic (2020). He developed breathlessness and general malaise. His main challenges were getting a clear diagnosis for his illness and getting some people to take his symptoms seriously. Jamie…
Jamie lives with his partner and 2 year old child. He works full time as a mechanical engineer. He describes his ethnicity as white.
In this short film, people who have had experience of having a family member in a 'coma' talk about the way the media affected their understanding of their loved one's condition.
A film featuring interviewees from this project, talking about the way in which the media portrays people in a ‘coma’.
Cathy's 16 year old brother, Matty, was severely brain injured when he was hit by a car. Emergency interventions and surgery meant Matty survived, but he was left in a permanent vegetative state. He was eventually allowed to die eight years later after artificial nutrition and hydration was withdrawn.
Married, mother of one son, works in the Book industry.
In 2011, at the age of 66, Angela's husband, a talented musician, had a cardiac arrest while in the recovery room after an operation. He was resuscitated. At first, the medical team were reassuring, but it turned out that he had suffered catastrophic hypoxic (oxygen deprivation) brain injury and he has remained in a minimally conscious state ever since. Has become progressively less responsive over time.
Angela works as a receptionist, and her husband was the night duty officer for the same funeral parlour. They were also musicians together, and had been in a relationship for...
Sonia's mother had a devastating stroke in 2005 when she was in her sixties. She appeared initially to make some recovery but a few days later had major swelling of the brain. Clinicians rang her family, telling them her life was in danger, and a decision was made to do a craniotomy. An early bout of pneumonia was aggressively treated, but when pneumonia developed again the decision was made to keep Sonia's mother comfortable but not treat with antibiotics, and her mother died in 2007.
Sonia is 45 years old.
Joanna's older daughter started self-harming when she was seventeen. She has been diagnosed with ME, bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. Joanna describes some positive outcomes, both on her relationship with her daughter and in her professional life.
Joanna, aged 46, is divorced with two daughters aged 19 and 22. She works full time as manager of an advice service. Ethnic background: White European.
