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Silver Award Winner in “Rising To The Moment Focused Topic: COVID Pandemic” Category of the Nautilus Awards

As the global Covid-19 pandemic leaves millions with long-term disabling conditions, the survivors fight for recognition and research, which could ultimately help transform care for many overlooked diseases.

To the world’s public health authorities, Covid-19 would either be a deadly disease for some, or it would be a simple respiratory illness for most—cleared up in a couple of weeks.

But then tens of millions around the world got sick and stayed sick. With scientists and doctors caught off guard, these patients often found solace only in themselves, organizing support groups across continents while ill in bed. An innovative band of patients researched the disease themselves, flipping the script and illustrating a new paradigm for research. In these unprecedented times, the CDC and the WHO came to them.

Covid “long haulers” found their new illness wasn’t so new. It resembled a number of post-viral syndromes, hard to treat and neglected by science for decades. CNN journalist Ryan Prior weaves in his own life, the stories of activist patients, and the latest science into a captivating tale of regular people crying out for care that actually works. The stakes are high: As Covid continues to circulate, its long-term effects could grow as well, weighing on the health system for decades to come. But getting Long Covid treatments right could help revolutionize care for all complex, chronic illness.

“Ryan Prior brings out the heart of the story simply because he puts his whole self into telling it empathetically and with utmost compassion. Matched with his passion for curiosity, it makes for a story not only worth telling, but worth reading with insatiable interest.” —Stephanie Land, New York Times bestselling author of Maid, one of President Obama’s top picks of 2019 and now a Netflix original series

“Ryan Prior’s years of both living with and reporting on chronic disease for major publications makes him ideally suited to write a book about Long Covid. Because he has led the field by helping author principles guiding other science writers in covering contested diseases, he can cover this topic with all the scientific nuance, literary poise, and human empathy it requires. His book could be an example in future decades of how to cover the new epidemics we will undoubtedly see.” —Pam Weintraub, author of Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic

“As a CNN features writer, Ryan has shown a keen nose for compelling human stories and the reporting chops to deliver.” —Brian Vastag, former science reporter for The Washington Post

“Ryan Prior’s passion, to both get the story right and bring it alive using amazing storytelling skills, makes his work incredibly important and engaging. His experience living with chronic illness, and his years of writing about it, will all combine to make his book on Long Covid an essential read.” —Tracie White, author of The Puzzle Solver: A Scientist’s Quest to Cure the Illness that Stole His Son

About the Author

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Ryan Prior is a journalist at CNN and has written hundreds of stories for CNN.com. He has been a Stanford Medicine X ePatient Scholar and RIAS Fellow, and serves on the #ME Action Network board. He directed the film Forgotten Plague and has written for USA Today and the Daily Beast. He lives in Atlanta.

Praise For…

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“In this gripping, compassionate, and deeply reported narrative, Ryan Prior tells the story of Long Covid as it should be told, centering the experiences of people who predicted the condition, endured it, named it, and researched it. Long-haulers are the heroes of their own story, and this important book beautifully captures their struggle and their courage.”
— Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer for The Atlantic

“This is a timely and important contribution to our understanding of Long Covid, which has affected tens of millions of people around the world and will impact health systems for years to come.”
— Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization

“Ryan Prior’s passion, to both get the story right and bring it alive using amazing storytelling skills, makes his work incredibly important and engaging. His experience living with chronic illness, and his years of writing about it, will all combine to make his book on Long Covid an essential read.”
— Tracie White, author of The Puzzle Solver: A Scientist’s Quest to Cure the Illness that Stole His Son

“As a CNN features writer, Ryan has shown a keen nose for compelling human stories and the reporting chops to deliver.”
— Brian Vastag, former science reporter for The Washington Post

“Journalist Ryan Prior’s major account of Long Covid, The Long Haul, is superb. Along with meditative side bars on science and medicine, Prior offers a wide-ranging investigation into the history, science, and politics of this chronic condition—potentially the fate of one in five Covid survivors. Prior’s street cred as both a Long Covid survivor and a victim of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a decades-old chronic disease to which some compare Long Covid, renders him a compassionate, insightful narrator.”
— Hillary Johnson, author of Osler’s Web: Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic

“In reading The Long Haul by Ryan Prior I learned a lot about Covid long haulers. Ryan covered the history and the remarkable patients that brought this disease to the public, government, and medical awareness. I agree with Ryan that researchers need to be very aware of the research done on other post-viral illnesses, especially ME/CFS. It’s a remarkable story and Ryan is an interesting and creative writer.”
— Ron Davis, Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at Stanford University and inventor of technologies fueling the Human Genome Project

“Everyone needs to read this book. Every one of us will either experience Long Covid or have a loved one who experiences it. The Long Haul is a story that needs to be told right now by the person who needs to tell it. It’s a deeply moving and beautifully written account of the quest by patients to unlock the unknowns of Long Covid and provide a roadmap for overcoming many of the 21st century’s problems.”
— Dr. David Fajgenbaum, Immunologist, University of Pennsylvania and national bestselling author of Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope Into Action

“Ryan Prior’s years of both living with and reporting on chronic disease for major publications makes him ideally suited to write a book about Long Covid. Because he has led the field by helping author principles guiding other science writers in covering contested diseases, he can cover this topic with all the scientific nuance, literary poise, and human empathy it requires. His book could be an example in future decades of how to cover the new epidemics we will undoubtedly see.”
— Pam Weintraub, former executive editor of Discover magazine and author of Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic

“Beautifully written and passionately reported, The Long Haul is an essential insight into how Covid-19’s effects could be with us for decades. Expertly chronicling the lives of these survivors, Ryan Prior shows us the dedication of hero physicians and the strength of empowered patients who stick up for themselves to get the best care. Most importantly, it gives us a front row seat for how groups of long-haulers are harnessing their power to organize for a healthcare system that works better for all of us.”
— Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent, and author of The Empowered Patient

“I’ve had low level nerve tingling symptoms ever since I got Covid in March 2020. I started to talk about it when I heard repeated stories of others whose more serious symptoms were being dismissed and doubted. Ryan Prior brings these stories to light, shows how patients’ advocacy pushed research into causes and cures, and illuminates how many questions we still need to answer. A book we need right now.”
— Senator Tim Kaine