[Translated from French]

Struck down by long COVID for the past year, a great athlete and CEGEP student remains hopeful even if he has to spend his days lying down doing nothing, because the slightest effort completely exhausts him.

“Deep down, I think I’ll heal completely, but it’s going to take time. I trust science,” says Ludovic Bégin, with a weak voice on the other end of the line.

Throughout his life, the athlete wanted to surpass himself, especially in football, as he hoped to be drafted by an American university.

“I am now trying to take this same discipline and perseverance to face the disease,” says the 19-year-old wisely.

In November 2023, he was infected with COVID-19 for the third or fourth time. The CEGEP business student then had difficulty completing his assignments and end-of-term exams.

Then, he suffered a concussion the following January and his condition deteriorated drastically for several months. Post-exercise discomfort, muscle weakness, chest pain, intolerance to noise and light, headaches: a wide range of new symptoms have appeared.

He was eventually diagnosed with long COVID and postural tachycardia syndrome, which makes his heart beat “fast and strong.”