Super-fit Rachel gets vaccinated after losing a stone while sick with flu
Being young and physically fit, Swansea Bay physiotherapist Rachel Walsh never saw any point in having the flu vaccine.
That was until earlier this year when she became so ill with the virus that she lost a stone in weight and took more than a month to fully recover.
Rachel, a physiotherapist working in paediatrics at Morriston Hospital, has joined the thousands of health board staff who have already had the vaccine this year.
(Main image above shows Rachel in Morriston Hospital’s physiotherapy gym)
The 29-year-old trains every day, is a runner and takes part in Hyrox, a challenging indoor fitness competition.
“I think I was a bit naïve really,” said Rachel. “I thought I didn’t really need it because, touch wood, I tended not to get unwell.
“I thought, I’m young, I’m fit, I’m healthy, and maybe I’m immune to it. But it was obviously different this year.”
It was, she said, quite late in the season. Several of the team she worked with had by then had flu so she thought she had escaped it.
Right: Rachel in action during a Hyrox event
“I thought I had been lucky,” she said. “But over one weekend in March I started developing symptoms.
“By the Monday I was completely bedbound, really unwell. And then, over the course of seven or eight days I lost over a stone in weight. I felt really, really dehydrated, a little bit delirious.
“So I got really quite unwell with it. And that's the first time I've ever actually been off work sick for more than a day since I started. So yes, it knocked me off my feet.”
Below left: Rachel with physiotherapist colleague Phoebe Pritchard after they completed the Swansea Half Marathon
Having lost so much weight and a lot of strength, Rachel took more than a month to get her training back on track.
“It had a massive impact and really took a toll,” she said. “Being back in work was hard enough without doing the training as well.”
Flu is not a heavy cold. It’s a highly infectious disease. For some, flu can lead to hospitalisation, permanent disability or even death.
The vaccine cannot give you flu because it has no live virus. You might feel achy afterwards, but that is just your immune system kicking in. It doesn’t last long.
Last year’s vaccine won’t protect people now. The flu virus keeps changing, so the vaccine must too.
The public vaccination programme for adults started on Friday 1st October. Those eligible for a vaccination will be contacted by their GP surgery or they can visit their local community pharmacy.
Full details including eligibility are available on the Swansea Bay website.
With Swansea Bay’s annual staff flu vaccination campaign in full swing, Rachel is among those who have got themselves protected.
“I’ve definitely changed my mind about it,” she said. “I look back and I think I was not just naïve but perhaps a bit selfish as well because I'm not just doing it for my own reasons.
“Obviously I got really sick, but my family, my friends and all the patients I see, they could have got it too.
“When you look into it, when you research the statistics and the facts, which I have, the only real sensible option is to have the vaccine.”
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