Football supporter Lenard Clifford, still ill with Long Covid after almost four long years of going down with the bug, has a new fight on his hands.
A lifelong supporter of Birmingham-based club Aston Villa, he has taken up the cause of society needing to care more about people with hidden disabilities – by turning up on the stands with a huge flag to promote his campaign.
The 59-year-old is pictured with the flag he took along to the Villa Women’s game against Manchester City on 25th January. It proudly carries the ME Association logo alongside the emblems of other causes and campaigns who have given him their permission to use them.
“I’m still grieving for the life I used to have”, said Lenard who in September 2023 had to give up a job he loved as a health care assistant for older adults with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.
“I’d worked for them for 14 years. It was a great job but I couldn’t get rid of Long Covid and was forced to take ill-health retirement”, he said.
“Now I’m doing this for my own mental health and in the hope that one day I will get better”, he said in between gaps in the conversation. ”I’m very sorry but please bear with me. It’s this awful brain fog”, he told us.
Lenard hopes to get along to Villa Park for seven or eight Villa Womens’ games this season. Regrettably, much as he would like to, he can’t yet manage to get back to the men’s games.
Villa are riding high in the Premier League this year – they beat Tottenham 2-1 in the race for the FA Cup on Sunday but he can’t yet cope with the huge roar and excitement that a massive game like that brings in its wake.
“The crowds for the women’s games here are smaller and different and I can cope with the atmosphere in the stands there. I get huge support from my partner but she said I wasn’t well enough to get back to the game until last year.
“Luckily, I have been able to get support for my own mental health from organisations like yourselves and ‘Healthy Minds’, which is part of the Birmingham and Solihulll Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. You've both been great!’, he added.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
For people with ME/CFS or Long Covid who are thinking about taking on a physical challenge, or if you are organising an event that might involve people with ME/CFS or Long Covid, please read this notice from Neil Riley, Chairman of the ME Association.
