CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brooke Keaton’s life completely changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I miss my career. I miss the classroom. I think out of everything, that’s what I miss the most,” Keaton said. 

Four years ago, she made the hard decision to leave her career as a teacher. 

“It was, and is, still hard,” Keaton said. ”I loved the children, I loved the families, I loved what I did.”  

Today, her life looks different because of long COVID. She uses a cane to get around, a stool to cook in the kitchen and sometimes a walker. She also manages her household full time.  

“My day literally consists of trying to do things,” Keaton said. “But any time of the day that can just shut down if I’m fatigued, if I’m in pain. I’m in pain all the time anyways, but if it increases, I have to sit down.”  

She contracted COVID in December 2020, then was diagnosed with long COVID after months of symptoms and confusion about what was wrong. 

“I felt crazy. I felt like a hypochondriac because nothing made sense. Nothing went together. Prior to having COVID, I had just turned 40, I had lost weight. It was all 40 and fabulous,” Keaton said. 

Now she takes eight medications and one shot weekly. Brooke lives with several side effects, including an autoimmune disorder, brain fog, memory loss, a heart condition, asthma and chronic pain. 

“It literally affected my body, head to toe in different ways,” Keaton said.  

She’s found hacks to help her as a mom and wife, like alarms on her phone and a large calendar that allows her to stay organized. 

“The kids can put their chores on here. I can do my meal prep. It just helps me keep everything together, because otherwise I would forget all of it,” Keaton said. 

What’s made things even more difficult is that Brooke’s 14-year-old daughter also has long COVID.  

“It is hard because you never want anything to be wrong with your children, and I’m devastated. I am devastated. I am heartbroken. I’m heartbroken, I’m confused, but I’m also determined,” Keaton said. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there’s still a lot unknown about long COVID, including how many people experience it, why, which groups are disproportionately affected, how new variants impact long COVID and the role the COVID-19 vaccine plays with long COVID. But research is ongoing. 

People like Brooke are advocating for more research and a cure. “We want a cure,” she said. “I want to get better.”  

Brooke says her support system of friends and family has made having the condition sting less, especially her husband of nearly 18 years. 

“He is a walking example of our vows,” Keaton said. “Who would’ve thought this would’ve happened?”  

Leaning on her faith also gives her strength and the ability to see the silver lining. 

“I have met some of the most amazing people over the last four years. There are people that last year I physically met for the first time, and we have like become family just in our battle to understand and to get better,” Keaton said.