Portsmouth woman sets up GoFundMe page for friend who is suffering with long Covid

Nicola Purdy, 48, who is a horse riding coach and saddle fitter, is suffering from her third round of Covid and has failed to catch a break amid the looming prices of essentials as the cost of living soars.

The mum of two is struggling with long Covid and is currently in her seventh week of being unwell, meaning that she can barely get out of bed let alone go down to work to make a living, and being self employed makes it more difficult to earn an income.

Her friend of twenty years, Katie-Marie Parsons, who lives in Southsea, decided to set up a GoFundMe Page to try and help her friend keep afloat and recover properly from Covid before re-entering her work.

Nicola said: ‘Not working is catastrophic, and having bought up both my children on my own anyway, I never have a huge amount of money left over at the end of the month. I work as hard as I can but it is only ever just enough to keep us ticking over financially. It is difficult but it is worth it because I have got the most awesome children in the world.

‘If it was not for them, I would be utterly sunk. I feel so lucky to have so many fantastic people in my life.’

The target was set at £2,000 but has surpassed expectations as the fundraiser currently sits on £3,492, which has given Nicola a lifeline.

The horse riding teacher has seen phenomenal support from her children, friends and clients.

Katie said that she saw a Facebook post that Nicola, of Midhurst, had published to her clients saying she was unwell, which received over 100 comments and she decided to send everyone the link to the fundraiser.

Katie said: ‘It is amazing. It has been really hard and Nicola deserved to catch a break. All of our friends feel the same, we all wanted to help her.

‘She is such a wonderful person and she has been through lots of hard times, so we wanted to make sure that she was okay financially, and it has been amazing.’