YouTuber "Physics Girl" dealing with long COVID as her sister helps from Denver

Dianna Cowern, also known as "Physics Girl" on social media, has been dealing with chronic fatigue and other symptoms for nine months. She has a severe case of long COVID -- experiencing symptoms long after an initial COVID infection.

"I can't talk...I can't move," said Cowern in a video on Facebook.

While she lies sick in her home in San Diego, her sister Alicia McGuirk, who lives in Denver, is doing her part to help.

"I just want her to get better so bad," said McGuirk. "She's just like, laying there and she was so influential and helped so many people."

She started a donation fund to help her sister and her husband who has been her caretaker. The medical bills have stacked up for them since they have been out of work for a while now.

"The hardest part is not being able to text her, talk to her or hear from her at all and being so far away," said McGuirk.

As time goes by, Cowern's symptoms have gotten worse.

UCHealth hospital is one of the national sites for the recovery study on long COVID.

Dr. Sarah Jolley and her team are spearheading that research.

"There's a number of theories as to why post-COVID conditions may be occurring," said Jolley.

She says symptoms can last for months and years for others. Right now there is no cure for it, but they're working on figuring out why.

"All of these different theories are currently going through evaluation in different research protocols," Jolley said. "I think we will have more information from six months to a year to understand which one of these theories relates to symptoms that we are seeing."

For McGuirk, she just hopes her sister goes back to herself. Doctors still recommend getting vaccinated and boosted to avoid getting COVID-19.