Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Raising awareness about long COVID March 15, 2025

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 4:11 PM
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(Initial COVID-19; image from the CDC)

UNTIL MY ELDEST ALERTED me around noon today, I was unaware that March 15 marks a notable day. At least for me and the millions of others worldwide who suffer from long COVID. Today is International Long COVID Awareness Day.

I’ve been living with long COVID for more than two years now. And in that time-frame, I’ve attempted to raise awareness about this debilitating chronic condition. I will continue to do so, because it’s important for others to understand. With understanding comes compassion and support.

My lengthy list of symptoms began after I contracted COVID in January 2023. I never self-tested positive for the virus. But that is not necessary to get a long COVID diagnosis. My primary care doctor and specialists ruled out any other medical reason for my varied symptoms. The connection to COVID was clear even to me, someone not particularly medically-inclined.

Today I am mostly fine, although I still struggle with residual issues, especially in the sensory area. It took six months of vestibular rehab therapy and lots of hard work to get me to a better place. During much of 2023, I thought I would never reclaim my life. I have.

IT TOOK A TEAM

But I didn’t do it alone. First, I credit Dr. Todd Sykora at Allina Health, Faribault, for not giving up on me, for showing great compassion and care, admitting that he didn’t have the answers. His concern for my health ran, still runs, deep. His decision to refer me to physical therapy saved my life.

At Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute in Faribault, I met physical therapist Ryan Iverson who, among other areas, specializes in vestibular issues. He was the perfect fit for me and the symptoms I was experiencing. To hear him say that my symptoms were like those of someone suffering a traumatic brain injury was validating. And then the hard work began, week after week for six months. Like my primary care doctor, Ryan showed great compassion and care.

SHOW COMPASSION & CARE BECAUSE LONG COVID IS REAL

If I want to make any point here, it’s that individuals living with long COVID need the compassion, care and understanding of family and friends. What we face is real. Difficult and debilitating. Without the support of my husband and eldest daughter, I could not have managed those first nine months of living with long COVID. They did a lot for me and always supported and encouraged. If my other two adult children lived in Minnesota, I know they would have offered the same.

Today I use my experiences to encourage a young man in my community who has been dealing with long COVID for 1.5 years. He’s had to drop out of college. He’s had to, on occasion, use a wheelchair. He struggles with fatigue and brain fog and much more. I referred him to my therapist, Ryan, and he’s making progress. I also stay connected with this young man’s mom. I recognize that she needs support, too.

Thank you for reading this post. That shows you care and want to learn more about long COVID. Please support those who suffer from this chronic condition by, first, acknowledging their challenges and then encouraging them.

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IF YOU DEAL with long COVID (what are your symptoms?) or know someone who has this chronic condition, please share your thoughts. How are you managing or supporting? What do you want people to know? Let’s, together, raise awareness.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Giving bikes to kids November 13, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
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Me, riding Sky Blue at age 10 on the farm where I grew up in southwestern Minnesota.

Me, riding Sky Blue at age 10 on the Redwood County farm where I grew up in southwestern Minnesota. Photo taken in 1966.

LOOKING BACK ON MY CHILDHOOD, I cannot imagine life without a bicycle. My bike was my imaginary horse, my daredevil stunt car launched off makeshift ramps, my mode of transportation down county and township roads.

If not for my maternal grandfather, though, I never would have owned a bike. My parents could not afford bikes for their kids. So Grandpa would scavenge the local dump for bikes he could repair, repaint and deliver to me and my five siblings.

It mattered not that my bike, which I named Sky Blue, wasn’t new. I owned a bike. I was a happy kid.

That childhood memory bubbled to the surface Monday morning when Dee Bjork at The Crafty Maven in downtown Faribault handed me a flier about the Free Bikes 4 Kidz program. I wanted, no, needed, to learn more about this partnered local give-away by So How Are the Children and Allina Health (presenting sponsor for the non-profit Free Bikes 4 Kidz). So I phoned SHAC Director Carolyn Treadway.

The give-away “targets kids whose families couldn’t otherwise afford bikes,” says Treadway. Kids just like me and my siblings decades ago.

As Treadway and I concur, a child’s desire to own a bike is universal, transcending time.

On December 7, Treadway expects SHAC and Allina to give away 65 – 75 bikes to pre-registered Faribault youth. She’s actively searched for kids—handing out fliers to teachers, drawing on her connections through SHAC and dropping in at places like St. Vincent de Paul, a childcare center and a laundromat to find families needing bikes. She’s currently placing names on a waiting list.

Kids from Northfield and Steele County will also get new or gently-used and refurbished bikes at the Faribault Middle School pick-up site. All told, Treadway anticipates 150-175 bicycles to be distributed along with new bike helmets, compliments of Allina Health.

Among those expected to show up are an east-side Faribault woman who will claim seven bikes, Treadway says. The bicycles are for her neighbor children whose father, in a state of inebriation, destroyed their bikes. The woman will store the bikes in her garage until spring.

Treadway enthuses about such a neighborly caring spirit and about the volunteers who repair the used bikes and assist with the give-away. She’s also grateful for those who donate bikes, some of which were collected at the Faribault Bike Rodeo in October. Allina Health coordinates numerous collections of bikes to be distributed in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Another local recipient is a Faribault father who signed his 12-year-old and 14-year-old up for Free Bikes 4 Kidz. When the dad asked if he could also get a bike for his 18-year-old, Treadway assured him he could. The older teen attends the Faribault Area Learning Center and a bike will enable him to stay in school because he will now have a way to get there.

Stories like that truly show the humanity of this program aimed at getting bikes to kids so they will have, as Treadway says, “access to safe and healthy physical activity.” Or, in the case of the 18-year-old, access to education.

The program also builds connections and a sense of community care.

Yet, the bare bones basics benefit of Free Bikes 4 Kidz is to get bikes into the hands of children who otherwise would not have a bike of their own. The program has grown significantly in Faribault, where only a dozen free bikes were distributed two years ago.

“Owning a bike,” Treadway says, “is very near and dear to a child’s heart.”

It is the universal childhood desire which transcends time. Just ask me. I’ve never forgotten Sky Blue or the grandpa who scavenged the dump so I could have a bike.

A bike pulled from my garage.

A bike pulled from my garage and photographed. I then edited the image to illustrate this story.

FYI: To learn more about the non-profit Free Bikes for Kidz, click here.

For more information on Allina Health’s partnership in the program, click here.

To learn more about So How Are the Children, click here.

© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling