Founded in 2021 during the pandemic, Long Covid Kids was created to raise awareness, provide peer support, and give a community voice to children living with the often-unrecognised illness of Long Covid. By working closely with families, young people, and professionals, the organisation ensures that lived experience drives change — building a community where no child faces Long Covid or related conditions alone, and where hope for a brighter future remains.
Rosie Pidegon has campaigned to bring awareness to this illness through conveying her own personal experience with long covid through her artwork. Rosie suffers from debilitating fatigue that has stripped away her independence, social life, and her passion for hobbies such as Irish dancing.
Her artwork carries a powerful message: “to remind a hostile world that there are tens of thousands of children and young people across the UK suffering with varying degrees of disability.”
Rosie’s work will feature in an upcoming exhibition at Millennium Court, opening Saturday 13th September at 2pm. The exhibition has been created in collaboration with other young people across the UK living with post-Covid conditions and includes artwork developed as part of a research project with the University of Sussex and Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
A standout piece in this exhibition is the ‘Long Covid Kids Pointillist Rainbow’ which represents each child on a spot of paint who had long covid in the UK, before funding was stopped by the government to carry out research in this area.
Sarah states that through her experience with Long Covid she feels forgotten and isolated by society. “I feel like I am being left behind from my peers. Everyone has moved on from Covid, but I can’t because I am stuck with the effects from it”.
All are warmly invited to view the personal artwork conveying kids experience of suffering from Covid. Visitors will have the opportunity to view the exhibition and experience the emotional depth and artistry on display. This event will additionally feature a performance from ‘NI Stars’.
Through this exhibition Rosie hopes to provide a voice for those living with Long Covid helping them to feel less alone, reminding us all that the impact of the pandemic is not truly over.
