"I've lost who I am": An Anchorage teacher's coronavirus infection affected her brain. Now she's

“I’ve lost who I am”: An Anchorage teacher’s coronavirus infection affected her brain. Now she’s having to relearn basic living.


Life wasn’t always like this for Libby Pederson.

She used to know how to dress herself in the morning without notes. Cooking dinner did not confound her.

That changed in November, when the 44-year-old got sick with the coronavirus and developed mysterious neurological symptoms that landed her in the hospital. Ever since, Pederson has been struggling to heal from what doctors say can be a little-known, little-understood consequence of the virus: persistent and debilitating brain and cognitive problems.

On the worst days, the days when she sits on her couch or stays in bed, Pederson wonders if she’ll return to being the busy and capable single mom and special education teacher at an Anchorage elementary school she was just two months ago.

“I feel like I’ve lost who I am,” she said.

Read more: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/12/27/ive-lost-who-i-am-an-anchorage-teachers-coronavirus-infection-affected-her-brain-now-shes-having-to-relearn-basic-living/
(Anchorage Daily News)