Cutting edge Long-COVID brain treatments for Amy

Aloha, my name is Bertha. I have known Amy for three years and remember her as an energetic, resourceful, and active person. We first met while enjoying daily early morning walks in the neighborhood. I learned then that I have known her spouse's family since the 1980's from my time as a volunteer at Teen Challenge where her father-in-law Jim Crowe was the executive director.

Amy is a mother of two, ordained Episcopal priest, worked full time as a board certified hospital chaplain on Maui, and walked or ran every day for her own physical and mental health.

Amy came down with COVID on June 4th 2022. She knew well the signs of COVID from her full time job as a hospital chaplain on Maui. She isolated quickly at home and kept that strain from infecting her household including her spouse, children, and parents. COVID hit Amy hard. She was in bed for two months due to extreme physical and mental fatigue. Amy’s husband described her as having a battery that needed a full recharge after draining only 2%.

Amy was diagnosed with Long Covid at the end of that June 2022 by her primary care doctor.

Amy improved slightly over time though continued to suffer from cognitive impairments (“brain fog”) and physical fatigue. Amy started a blog at amybethcrowe.com to help her through her struggles.

In October of 2022 the other full-time chaplain at the hospital needed to travel out of state for two weeks so Amy planned to attempt to work a few hours a day to help keep basic coordination of the chaplain services going. Into the first week Amy began a regression of progress she had made over the prior months and soon ended up bed bound again for a month.

Hospital chaplain duties require high focus and attention as the chaplain is present and provides an emotional sounding-board with patients, family members, and staff as they work through traumatic health experiences. This is a high-energy cognitive task that requires intense focus and management and is mentally draining. Nevertheless this was Amy’s dream job and she was great at it.

Throughout all of these Long COVID struggles, Amy continued to hope that recovery would come with time and that she would be able to return to her position at the hospital. However, in March of 2023, with her Temporary Disability Insurance support ending, Amy came to the realization and acceptance that she would not be able to return as the Chaplain Coordinator at the hospital.

Amy was blessed to be able to find a low-demand part-time job with flexibility which permits her to work, or not work, as her mental and physical capacity permits. This income helps to support her family, but it is not going to be enough in the long term.

Amy continues daily to have to balance her time between limited activity and rest and recovery. Though once a regular runner and having three marathons under her belt Amy now can’t go for brisk walks without a lengthy bed rest to recover the remainder of the day. Her mental and physical capacity for engaging with even her children is limited to where they don’t have the super-mom they once relied on to always be available. Things are different now and her children know it. Overexertion, mental or physical, leads to dizziness, tremors in her arms, loss of executive brain function, and a drop in blood pressure. This is not the life that Amy wants for herself or her family.

Long COVID has diminished Amy's energy level, her stamina, her problem solving abilities. I am greatly hopeful that these treatments will help her to awaken her cognitive abilities and revive her vitality.

Treatment Information

Through Amy's research and consultation, the most promising, and really the only current promising treatment available, is called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (“TMS”). These treatments will be received at a facility on Oahu in a course of 40 days. TMS is proven for conditions such as depression and has shown to be effective for improving brain function for those with Long COVID. A diagnostic test of Amy’s brain function showed a “noisy” brain and out-of-sync signals between the rear and front of the brain. There is hope here.

This treatment was introduced to Amy after being connected by a friend to Angela Keen. Angela had contracted covid in March 2020. She suffered through the symptoms and her debilitating condition continued as long covid. She too became unemployed. She found her way to Brain Health Hawaii and for this same treatment, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. The EEG validated her symptoms with the long covid and showed brain waves impairment similar to Amy’s. From her treatment with the TMS, she began to feel a change within 2 weeks. As a result of this treatment, Angela has been able to return to meaningful work again and integrate into society. Angela still has challenging days, but the severity of the symptoms has lessened and the impact of the treatments has greatly improved her health and wellbeing. See the Video Story for more about Angela's journey.

Learn more about the treatment at the following links:

International Research Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences

Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine

For the duration of Amy’s treatments, Amy will stay on Oahu Monday through Friday for eight weeks, returning home on the weekends to be with her family. Amy hopes to make a few extra trips back home throughout the treatments to attend events that her children may be involved in.

Amy’s insurance will cover 80% of her treatments and office visits.

Other costs will be air travel, ground transportation, room and board on Oahu, and functional medicine treatment managed by Amy’s physician support team.

In addition to cash donations, Amy could use donations of Hawaiian Airline miles, and her husband back on Maui could use help with household meals for himself, their two children, and Amy’s parents. Casseroles, soups, stews, baked chicken, and lasagna will be appreciated. Please no seafood, turkey, or lentils.

If you know others struggling with Long COVID on Maui or Hawaii in general please reach out to longcovidmaui at gmail to be connected with a support group started by Amy to help those challenged with debilitating long-term effects that can result from COVID.

Please help Amy on her road to healing!