Oldenburg (Schleswig-Holstein) – Anna’s world is twelve square meters and consists of a bed, a monitoring monitor, a feeding pump and an oxygen device. The former bedroom of the single-family home is the intensive care unit for the mother of two. Anna Krumpas (41) lives there in complete darkness.
Since the hospital employee from Oldenburg in Holstein (Schleswig-Holstein) tested positive for the corona virus on January 14, 2022, her body has been getting weaker every day. She needs external oxygen to breathe. She receives food and liquids via infusion. Her husband Dennis washes her in bed and has to change her diaper every day. A martyrdom.
A happy moment. On September 11, 2009, Anna married her husband Dennis. The trained metalworker had to give up his job and now looks after Anna around the clock
Photo: private
“Light stimuli and noises make me feel pain everywhere,” says the 41-year-old in a weak voice. “I only leave my room when I have to go to the hospital – or in my dreams. I dream that I am saying goodbye to my loved ones in beautiful places.”
Anna became infected on the Covid ward
Anna Krumpas had worked as a ward assistant in a hospital for many years. When she became infected, she was training to be a nursing assistant on a Covid ward. After 17 days, she tested negative, but her symptoms continued to worsen.
Anna Krumpas as a trainee on the Covid ward. This is where more than two years ago
Photo: private
At first she could still take a few steps with the walker, then her legs gave out. Her kidney values got worse, her inflammation levels rose. When her heart was only beating seventeen times a minute, a pacemaker saved her life. The devastating diagnosis: Post-Covid-19 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).
Family doctor refuses treatment
Anna visited one doctor after another and underwent rehabilitation: “Every attempt at treatment led to a deterioration. Doctors are at a loss or do not take me seriously at all. Finally, even my family doctor refused treatment.”
Anna in the intensive care unit after heart surgery in April 2024. Her heart was only beating 17 times a minute. A pacemaker stabilized her pulse rate again
Photo: private
What is ME/CFS?
According to the “German Society for ME/CFS”, more than 250,000 people in Germany were affected by the disease even before Corona, and the number could be significantly higher now. Even a mild flu can trigger the post-viral syndrome.
Dr. Christof Ziaja (48) from Hamburg has been an expert on “fatigue syndrome” for 20 years. The doctor explains: “ME/CFS is caused by mutated viruses that penetrate the body’s cells like a Trojan horse and completely overwhelm and crash the immune system. They attack the entire body. The heart, intestines, bronchi and blood vessels are destroyed.”
Dr. Christof Ziaja conducts research at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf. The first cases of “fatigue syndrome” appeared in the 1980s. Since women were predominantly affected and fainted when under stress, people at the time spoke in bad taste of “hysteria in women.”
Photo: Henning Schaffner
After two months, we speak of ME/CFS or Long COVID. Ziaja: “In the case of an infection, it is important to have a rapid differential diagnosis by a neurologist. It is possible to clearly distinguish whether ME/CFS or depression is present.”
In addition to absolute physical rest, the environment plays an important role: “Family, friends and employers must acknowledge the illness and must not cause stress. In addition, doctors and therapists who are familiar with the illness are important.”
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Courses of events such as those in Anna Krumpas are not uncommon. “With proper therapeutic treatment on site, one could achieve more stability and regain 30 to 40 percent of the quality of life,” explains the expert.
Family hopes for donations
Anna tells her story so that something like this doesn’t happen to others. “My whole body is failing and no one can help me,” she says. “I hope for education, more money for research and the approval of medication.”
The last time at the sea. Shortly before Anna could no longer get out of bed, she visited her dead mother in the burial forest on the coast. “My greatest wish was to be taken to Mom’s tree one day”
Photo: private
Of course she wants to stay alive and accompany her children Charlotte (16) and Max (20) as they grow up. “The worst thing is: my world in here stands still and outside it continues to turn normally,” she explains sadly. “I feel like I’m buried alive.”
If you would like to help Anna, you can contact gofundme.com donate.
