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A COVID love story: An advocate and a widower meet, marry and fight the good fight together

Diana Berrent (now Diana Guthe) and Nick Guthe married last month. (Courtesy of Nick and Diana Guthe)
Diana Berrent (now Diana Guthe) and Nick Guthe married last month. (Courtesy of Nick and Diana Guthe)

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis LifelineFor suicide prevention resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, click here.

Diana Berrent first spoke to Here & Now‘s Robin Young in 2020 when she was in throes of long COVID-19 in September of 2020. She was also the founder of Survivor Corps, which started as a way of involving patients in research and plasma donation but evolved into the country’s largest support, advocacy and research group for COVID long haulers.

Nick Guthe joined the show for the first time about a year later, after his wife Heidi Ferrer took her own life following a debilitating battle with long haul covid. After her struggle, he too became an advocate for treatment and support for long haulers suffering from acute depression and mental illness brought on by their symptoms.

Earlier this month Guthe and Berrent married and together, they continue their work to find the support and treatment needed by COVID survivors. They join Robin Young.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Long COVID Report Providing Insights and Opportunities to Support Patient Community

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.