Sickboy The "Mindf***" of Long COVID: From CEO to "Currently Disabled"
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Jan 14, 2026 Marisa Renee Lee, award-winning author and former Obama White House staffer turned long COVID advocate, shares her radical identity shift after sudden cognitive decline. She recounts baffling symptoms, a terrifying breathing crisis in Greece, debates around vaccine reaction versus infection, and barriers to treatments. The conversation centers on medical skepticism, building a care team, and reframing life as currently disabled.
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Sudden Cognitive Collapse
- Marisa described going from briefing the president to forgetting how to cook bacon and biting her night guard in her sleep due to crushing headaches.
- Those moments signaled a profound cognitive decline she hadn't anticipated and forced a reevaluation of identity.
Long COVID As Immune/Nervous Dysfunction
- Marisa frames long COVID as immune system dysfunction that manifests as nervous system problems and hundreds of symptoms.
- She emphasizes that doctors still lack definitive explanations for why some people develop it and others don't.
Vaccine Reaction, COVID, And Greece Hospitalization
- Marisa traced her decline starting after a COVID booster reaction in January and a severe COVID infection in April that left her never feeling the same.
- In Greece she discovered her larynx was 70% blocked and later developed asthma and persistent post-viral symptoms.
