Compromised

As a person with a compromised immune system I am/was a part of a group of thousands of people in the UK who were advised to shield from Coronavirus for a minimum of 12 weeks(!) from the beginning of April 2020. When the dreaded NHS text arrived on my phone declaring that I was one of the most vulnerable and high-risk people with regards to catching Covid-19 it was frightening, despite knowing that it was inevitable.

Just to make it clear, not every person who has Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s is immunosuppressed/compromised. However, immunosuppressive therapy is often prescribed for patients with auto-immune diseases such as IBD.

I started taking my immunosuppressant medication: Azathioprine in September 2019. I was always made aware that by taking this medication, I would be more susceptible to contagious illnesses. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, my attitude was always that being exposed to the common cold or flu was a fair trade-off for not having a flare. Armed with the flu jab which I get every year, I felt pretty safe. Then Corona came along and changed everything for me and thousands of others with compromised immune systems. To be immunocompromised is to be vulnerable. A quick look for the word ‘compromised’ on thesaurus.com will give you the synonyms weakened, endangered, and jeopardised to name a few; those words are quite scary, right? As far as I am aware, no-one wants to be vulnerable or considered as such.

One of the first messages we heard about the Coronavirus was that young, fit, and healthy individuals were unlikely to be seriously affected by the virus. I believe that this led to a nonchalant attitude towards Covid-19. By communicating this, the underlying message was that it was only the elderly and those with underlying health conditions that needed to be worried about contracting the virus. But what if you are a person with an underlying health condition like me? You might be surprised to find out that according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 50 to 129 million Americans have a pre-existing health condition, and according to The Population Reference Bureau, 16 per cent are over the age of 65 (https://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/2171611/coronavirus-ableism-elderly-sick-chronic-illness/ by Suzy Berkowitz). It is more difficult to find the exact numbers in the UK, but we can make an educated guess that the percentages might be roughly the same. I wonder how many of us there might need to be in order to matter? Elderly people have value. People who have disabilities are valuable. People with invisible illnesses are valuable. I understand that these messages were meant to reassure people and reduce panic about the effects of Covid-19 on young and healthy people; but for people with medical conditions that make them vulnerable to the Coronavirus, it actually makes us more fearful that the general public will engage in behaviours that put themselves and us at risk.

I am vulnerable at the moment. But I am not completely powerless. I have the opportunity right now to let you know how this pandemic affects my life and what you can do to help. If you are reading this now then I am letting you know that you have a responsibility and an opportunity to act in a way that will protect me and others like me. Yes, it might be inconvenient for you, and you might not be able to be ‘free’ in the way that you want to be right now, but I don’t have the option to be free at all. I don’t have the privilege of a body that allows me to be free.

~Be sensible, follow government guidelines, social distance wherever you can and for goodness sake please wear a mask and WASH YOUR HANDS!~

Hannah xx