help genderqueer drag artist survive long covid

Hello friends, family, and community,

As some of you know, I have Long Covid. Due to the combination of Long Covid and my pre-existing chronic illnesses, I am unable to support myself with traditional work. As I try and make sense of how to live with these disabilities, I need to fundraise for my basic living expenses.

My symptoms of Long Covid exacerbate my underlying pre-existing chronic illnesses (spondyloarthritis and ME/CFS) and have given me new ones (COPD).

Between 2021 and early 2022, I worked as much as possible between many chronic illness flare ups, chronic migraine, and pain. Even though I knew working in this way was only making my conditions worse, I felt I had no other choice.

In July 2022, I was hospitalized for an undetermined lung infection doctors associated with my immune-suppression from arthritis medications. This infection was followed shortly afterwards by a Covid infection I caught on a short trip for necessities while masked.

Both the hospitalization and following Covid infection exacerbated my pre-existing chronic illnesses. My health has not recovered to my pre-hospitalization standard more than a year after my last Covid infection. I have been largely bed and homebound for over a year due to the energy limitations of these illnesses.

I suffer from extreme, constant mental and physical fatigue that no amount of sleep will fix. The experience of chronic, disabling fatigue makes my whole mind and body feel as if they are made of lead. With ME/CFS, the body does not repair itself and heal like a healthy person. Any kind of exertion, mental or physical - even sitting up in bed or speaking, can send my symptoms into a flare up, making me more disabled.

I am pursuing all testing options with my rheumatologist to rule out additional illnesses. With the help of Traditional Chinese Medicine and rigorous pacing of activities, my health is beginning to show slow signs of stabilizing and improvement (migraine free 2023 is a gift).

I urgently need to raise $2500 for this months bills, and $3k a month for each of the following months of the winter and spring to pay for rent, healthcare, utilities, groceries, and assistive/mobility devices.

Thank you for all the support in the past couple of years. I am so grateful. Friends, family, and supporters have helped me raise $11k towards the $13K goal I set in early in 2023. This has been a life-saver.

If you are able to help by donating here or sharing my fundraiser with your people, I appreciate it so much.

If you are interested in making a tax-deductible donation, you can through my fiscal sponsor Dancers’ Group here: https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MTUyMDc=

Gratefully,

Dia Dear