A video I produced in the summer of 2022 has reached over 27,000 organic views on YouTube and has now been picked up by two California health agencies. The video is a touching personal testimonial about a family's struggles with long COVID. I produced it with the help of BowerComm for United Methodist Health Ministry Fund.
In May of 2022, I was asked by BowerComm to shoot and edit a series of videos promoting COVID vaccination. I didn't know any details, but knew it was a valuable project, so I agreed to take it on. Over the course of two months, I created 4 English-language videos and 1 Spanish video through interviews with doctors, patients, and public health officials. All of them told valuable stories but none was as heartbreaking as Elise's story.
Elise tested positive for Covid November 25 of 2020. And 10 days later we thought she was ready to go back to school but she didn't make it through the school day.
Since then, her family has been through 17 months of struggle for her health, including shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, she lost the ability to walk, stand up, and sitting up makes her dizzy. She's in constant pain. She's had a few episodes of breathing distress that have put her in the emergency room. She was hospitalized for a week. Her family has walked alongside Elise in her health struggles and seen her lose a normal life.
"I think it's one of the hardest things a parent can face, when you see your child going through these struggles and there's nothing you can do to make them better." -Heidi Unruh
Elise and Heidi don't tell their story to scare people. But they do want us all to live wisely and with compassion of those like Elise who live with an increased risk from Covid.
Heidi summed it up simply, "You can never eliminate 100% of risk but you can take simple steps to cut the risk way, way down."
And Elise followed up with some practical tips we can all implement. "I always say the best way to support people with long COVID is to: 1) Wear a mask and get vaccinated. 2) Listen and believe people with these symptoms. And 3) Do research and learn about it and educate yourself."
An estimated 1 in 10 kids and adults who get COVID are at risk of getting long COVID.
Heidi and Elise just hope that, after watching this video, parents across the country and the world can take the risk of long COVID into account when they are deciding whether to
What's in the future for Elise? She sees her future clearly: for the rest of her life, it's likely to be something she's going to deal with. Elise put it best in her own words.
"Normal isn't really a word in my vocabulary. It's cope and adapt." -Elise Unruh
The wonderful folks at BowerComm Executive Produced this campaign, scheduling shoots and identifying interview subjects. They wrote the interview questions as well.
I directed and shot the videos and conducted the interviews. I also created the titles and edited the interviews and footage. Thanks to Heidi and Elise for supplying the wonderful and heartbreaking photos in this video.
The video was published on the United Methodist Health Ministries Fund YouTube Channel
Many thanks to Elise and Heidi Unruh for sharing their story. It was an honor to have the opportunity to help them share it with 27,000 viewers and counting.
