In Crisis? Click here
Check out our new Gallery
Sign up to our Newsletter
Recognition - Research - Rehabilitation
MEET THE TEAM
Long Covid SOS was established in June 2020 during the early months of the pandemic and is staffed entirely by volunteers with lived experience of Long Covid. We are now registered with the Charity Commission and our governance is provided by a board of trustees
We have played a major role in generating awareness of the condition through social media and press campaigning. We work closely with the NHS, RCGP, Dept for Health and Social Care, NICE, ONS, NIHR and the WHO and also collaborate with researchers in order to further our mission of Recognition, Research and Rehabilitation for people with Long Covid. Moving forward we aim to continue to be an active voice, providing an informed and lived experience perspective to national and international organisations as well as the research community
MEET THE TEAM
Ondine Sherwood
Co-Founder and CEO
Ondine had a Covid-19 infection in March 2020 and after failing to recover became one of the founding members of LongCovidSOS, where her focus is on campaigning. Ondine is an IT professional, an HRA Research Ethics committee member, and has a Master’s in PPE of Health from UCL. She is a former PPV4 partner for NHS England, and is a member of the NHSE Long Covid Taskforce, the NIHR Expert Group on Long Covid and is on the steering committee for the STIMULATE-ICP study
Helen Lunt Davies
Volunteer
Helen worked as an Archaeological Illustrator for 25 years after gaining a degree in Graphic Design and Scientific Illustration from Middlesex University. She retrained as a Silversmith and Jeweller at Central St Martins in 2019.
Helen has been suffering with Long Covid since contracting the virus in the first wave, March 2020. She has become a patient advocate for people suffering with Long Covid and is passionate about being a voice and campaigner for others suffering with this debilitating illness.
Garry Loftus
Volunteer
Garry served in the British Army for 25 years. He contracted COVID-19 in December 2020.
As Garry loves the sea he now applies a daily mantra close to his heart: "One day, one wave at a time" in order to battle his own Long Covid.
Garry is highly driven to support, help and guide people in the best way he can, by becoming a voice for those that need one.
Sarah Barley-McMullen
Volunteer
Sarah is a former University Diversity and Inclusion Lead and Senior Lecturer. Having retired in March 2022, due to Long COVID, she set up an inclusion and belonging consultancy called, ‘Be Longing for Change’, Since then she has become an Associate of the National Youth Agency, where she is working on the creation of new National Youth Work practice standards for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Sarah lives with Long COVID and navigates the challenges and impact this has on her life in a glass half full way. She is a fierce advocate for others living with Long COVID, and also works as a PPV for NHS England, where she contributes to policy, messaging, and primary care training resources on Long COVID.
Sarah is a Trustee for Derby Diocesan Board of Education, as a Youth Work and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) specialist. She became a Stonewall Role Model in 2019, the same year she set up Pride in Belper, a community interest group who were shortlisted for LGBT+ Community Organisation of the Year in the National Diversity Awards 2021-22. Sarah is married to Helen, and they are both owned by their cockapoo called Steve.
Janet Gunter
Volunteer
Janet has dedicated her professional life to working alongside social movements, and founding and running a non-profit. Quakers and Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) helped turn her into campaigner as a teenager in the US, and she hasn't stopped since. She is a "first waver" - she got sick in April 2020 and never recovered. Since then she met her fellow sick activists online, and started learning about disability justice and the history of people fighting for help with chronic illness. She helps Long Covid SOS with fundraising and strategy.
NC
Volunteer
NC loves to write (read ‘ramble’), and read. She has a PhD in Biochemistry and is working as a Medical Writer.
She developed Long Covid after contracting a COVID-19 infection in August 2022 and is learning how to navigate life with a chronic illness and promoting education about Long Covid in whatever capacity she can. On the occasions when she has the energy, you will find her drawing or roaming around the city, listening to Bollywood songs (sometimes singing), and taking amateur photographs (emphasis on ‘amateur’) on her phone, or reading a nice book with some hot chocolate
Yvonne Alder
Volunteer
Yvonne trained and performed in IDTA dance, and was accepted into a recorder orchestra from a very young age. She trained as a Financial Advisor later transforming to a worldwide advertising company paper based and digitally helping customers promote their business whether small or large. Yvonne also worked for a telecommunications organisation for over 10 years in various roles from customer service training and business sector account manager. She loved travelling and exploring different countries as well as singing in a choir, dancing snorkelling and swimming before becoming very ill.
Yvonne now lives with Long Covid after contracting Covid-19 in March 2020. Her desire is to be an advocate reaching out to individuals and carers who do not realise they or someone they know has this condition.
OUR PATRON
