THE LONG HAUL
The Rev. Amy Crowe's Journey with Long COVID
By Sybil Nishioka

[Chronicle, May 25, 2023]  When COVID-19 shut the country down in March of 2020, the Rev. Amy Beth Crowe had just returned to a chaplaincy job at a hospital on Maui, two months earlier.  For the next two years, she worked tirelessly at the hospital, unrecognizable under scrubs, mask, cap, and even face shields and goggles.  During those two long years, she managed to avoid getting infected...until that fateful day in June of last year.  

"I knew I had it," said Amy in a recent phone interview.  The date was June 4, 2022, when she woke up feeling dizzy and congested. The all too familiar symptoms of COVID that she had seen in many of the patients she ministered to, had finally caught up with her.  Amy immediately isolated herself from her husband and two young children.  The next day, Amy's fears were confirmed when she tested positive. Her life has never been the same since.

The following is Amy's journey during the past year, with excerpts from an interview and her personal blog, The Spiritual Surgeon, that she created in November 2022.  Having been diagnosed with Long COVID and its debilitating effects, Amy hopes to raise awareness and provide a network of support for others sufering from this horrific condition.