Berrent spent the following days quarantined at home, recovering from the virus and sharing her journey through vlogs and columns for the New York Post. ''Soon, I was making up excuses to use it. We, as a community, can save lives. Long COVID activists Nick Gthe and Diana Berrent who fell in love during the darkest days of the pandemic are married, the couple exclusively tells PEOPLE. 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But their relationship really took a romantic turn that August, when Nick flew out to New York to attend a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to honor COVID victims. ", The former photographer, who was then based on Long Island, says he told her, "I'll tell you when it's enough. Not because I need to know for my personal education, but at that point, I felt I had a moral and civic duty to warn my community and I couldnt report it to the school district unless I had a positive diagnosis. Erica Tempesta For Dailymail.com. It's hard to believe, but just a year ago, the 52-year-old filmmaker was reeling from the death of his wife, Heidi Ferrer. . By She documented both her illness and recovery through her Coronavirus Diary, giving the world a glimpse of her struggles and process. Its the type of center that needs to be replicated everywhere, she says. And since most of them are long-haulers, membership hasnt dwindled in size since Berrent created the group in March. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. 15:16 EDT 13 Jul 2022 'I believe that Heidi led me to her,'Gthe told People of his bittersweet romance. Warning Signs to Look for If You Are Concerned Someone Is Suicidal. Then the two of us went out to dinner in the East Village," Diana says. The wedding cake was a three-layer iced strawberry shortcake from a Santa Monica bakery, Top Tier Treats. Diana Zicklin Berrent is an American lawyer and founder of Survivor Corps. Earlier this month Guthe and Berrent married and together, they continue their work to find the support and treatment needed by COVID survivors. Respiratory issues are the most common long-term symptom of long-haulers in the group, she says, and a very concerning degree of neurological issues, such as persistent, soul-crushing headaches that leave people unable to do daily activities. Diana Zicklin Berrent is a mother, photographer and lifelong adventurer. ', 'She gave me permission to feel real happiness and joy again,' he said. The choice was deliberate, not just because it was one of their favorite spots, but because of the COVID safety protocols. We lingered after dinner, and afterward he walked me to my car and kissed me in the parking lot. She thought her ordeal with the virus was over when she tested negative, but six months. The bride, 28, was a scheduler. She was one of the first in the country to go public about this disease, working to demystify and advance the knowledge and understanding of COVID-19. While in isolation, Diana launched Survivor Corps, a grassroots solution-based movement to mobilize the sharply increasing number of people affected by COVID-19 to come together, support and participate in the medical and scientific research community efforts and take a more active role in trying to mitigate this pandemic. Gthe described his new love as being 'daring, passionate, and yet tenderly affectionate' while sharing how much it means to him that she has learned everything she can about his late wife. His long drives between Los Angeles and Ojai, California where he and Bex were temporarily staying with his mother while they tried to rebuild their lives gave them ample opportunity to chat. The group currently has over 20,000 members. S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. The restaurant features two patios one outdoor and one indoor with open air. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Determined to die on her own terms, the matriarch stopped eating and drinking. Karyn Miller-Medzonproduced and edited this interview for broadcast withTodd Mundt. CNN Right Now (Sept. 25, 2020) - Diana Berrent discussing Long Haulers and recent diagnosis of Covid . It's a vow that Diana already adept at connecting journalists with people impacted by COVID-19 was more than able to help him fulfill. I was undeterred. Three weeks before Ferrer's death, she had made Gthe promise that if she didn't make it, he would 'let the world know what long COVID does to people'. They join Robin Young. Survivor Corps founder Diana Berrent, 46, chronicled for The Post her battle with COVID-19 back in March. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Support journalism without a paywall and keep it free for everyone by. Let us know in the comments below. The main one being, "What did I miss?". Nick gave a speech. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org. This virus is a mystery, but the answers to that mystery lie in the bodies of survivors, she says. Send the details to love@people.com for a chance to be featured in Real-Life Love, People.com's new series dedicated to sharing extraordinary connections and heartfelt gestures. Event planner Donna Gentry kept the evening moving along. 'And when you can feel joy and happiness, enthusiasm returns. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice| Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information| Ad Choices Courtesy of Diana Berrent Survivor Corps' current mission is to find and report on research, screening and donation opportunities for survivors, as well as to connect those in need with people who can help. Three weeks after the resolution of her symptoms, she was Participant #0001 in Columbia Universitys clinical trial to recruit survivors to donate their blood and plasma. PAY ATTENTION: Donate to Legit Charity on Patreon. 2022 All Rights Reserved. 'In the last few weeks,' Gthe explained, 'she was really worried that there was only one trajectory, and it was ending up in a wheelchair, unable to bathe herself, unable to do anything.'. Filmmaker Nick Gthe, 52, met his fiance, Diana Berrent, 48, the founder of Survivor Corps, while mourning the loss of his wife, Heidi Ferrer, in May 2021 Ferrer, a television and film. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a U.S.-based suicide prevention network of over 160 crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 1-800-273-8255. "[It] was my great-grandmother's [and] my grandmother's," Diana says. She was declared brain dead at the hospital. Do you have a touching story the world needs to know? Nick offered support to Diana while she spent last summer in her childhood home, caring for her mother. The husband of the late Dawson's Creek writer who died by suicide while battling long-haul COVID has found love with a COVID-19 support activist and is now engaged. On Saturday, Gthe and Berrent wed in a beautiful sunset beach ceremony in Marina Del Rey, California, in front of about 75 family and friends. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Nick leaned on Diana, the founder of the COVID-19 advocacy group Survivor Corps for support while grieving late wife. , updated Survivor Corps current mission is to find and report on research, screening and donation opportunities for survivors, as well as to connect those in need with people who can help. How could I possibly prove I had exposure to someone who has it if youre not testing anybody? (The county has over 1 million people and lies just east of New York City.). The flavor (a childhood favorite of the bride) was a nod to her childhood and her family, who, aside from one aunt, couldn't attend. Feeling helpless, Berrent took her dilemma to her town and county representatives, sending a letter detailing her symptoms and her struggle to get a test. "What treatments did I not get [Heidi]? She was initially refused a test because she had not visited China or Italy during the previous 30 days, nor could she prove she had 10 minutes of close sustained contact with someone who had tested positive., At that point, there were only a handful of people in Nassau County who had tested positive, she said. "In those early days, she gave me a safe harbor for my grief," Nick says of Diana. Partnered with Indiana University, the group conducted a survey of symptoms and found members reported 98 different ailments from COVID-19 thats eight times more symptoms than what the CDC has listed. "Nothing. Meanwhile, back in New York, her mother was in the final stages of terminal cancer. Terry Bradshaw's Daughter Rachel Is Married! One suburban mom has been trying to tell people how serious this pandemic is since March. Our mission has actually remained the same since the day I started Survivor Corps while I was in isolation in my bedroom with COVID, she says, and that is to mobilize an army of COVID survivors to donate their plasma and to support science in every way possible.. Everyone deserves accurate information about COVID-19. Yeah, they probably are having anxiety, but they're also having tachycardia and they need to be treated medically and taken seriously.. Survivor Corps is a project of Multiplier, a tax-exempt nonprofit 501(c)3 umbrella organization (Tax ID: 91-2166435). All rights reserved. Are you a COVID-19 long-hauler? Nassau County is a really big place. "They've all been through so much change lately, watching them all start to bond was exceptionally meaningful.". Sinais coronavirus recovery facility takes survivors suffering seriously, she says. The couple knew they wanted to get married after they gotmatching lightning bolt tattoos during one of her trips to Los Angeles in November. ''I thought he was really cute,'' she remembered. from Cornell Law School in 2004.[8]. She walked him back to his hotel before she headed home to her mom. Serena McMahonadapted it for the web. 'In those early days, she gave me a safe harbor for my grief,'Gthe said of Berrent. The wedding cake was a three-layered strawberry shortcake. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Diana Berrent was one of the first people in her area to test positive for COVID-19. Diana Berrent is a COVID-19 long-hauler, which is a person who suffers from debilitating medical issues even after their tests show they no longer carry the coronavirus. fatigue, flu-like symptoms, brain fog, and body aches,including severe pains in her feet and ankles. She has watched every video that Heidi put on YouTube. Diana also encouraged Bex and Nick to put photos of Ferrer up in their new home. By October they were officially a couple. Real-Life Love 'Dawson's Creek' Writer's Husband Finds Love with Long COVID Activist After Wife's Tragic Suicide. While Zelda was her mom's maid of honor, Bexon and Spencer were Nick's best men. She and her then-husband had moved to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. with their two children,Zelda and Spencer, who were 14 and 12, respectively, but their marriage was falling apart. There was nothing subtle about it, she told HuffPost last week. Meanwhile, Nick wore the cufflinks that Diana's father wore to her parents' February 1964 wedding. Founder Diana Zicklin Barrett took to Twitter to criticize her husband for putting her children in grave danger. "And when you can feel joy and happiness, enthusiasm returns. Diana Berrent is a COVID-19 long-hauler, which is a person who suffers from debilitating medical issues even after their tests show they no longer carry the coronavirus. We can hold the hands of the dying who are in hospitals without loved ones. With the toll mounting, Ferrer had gone from a bubbly, positive person to someone who feared she was a burden on her husband of 20 years and their son Bexon, then 13. She had gastrointestinal issues, and food was so difficult to digest that her weight plummeted. ''I made a point of waiting until the other computer geeks went to lunch so that Steven would come and fix it. A beautiful couple Nick Gthe and Diana Berrent have tied the knot in a spectacular beach ceremony. It occurred to me that this is the most inefficient way of finding and matching up people with the research institutes, she said. The bride's father was a partner in Laventhall & Zicklin, a former Manhattan law firm. (Courtesy) This article is more than 2 years old. She increased my expectations for what the rest of my life could be.'. The filmmaker (who knew of Survivor Corps through Heidi), leaned on Diana for support amid his grief. All Rights Reserved. Thank you! The bride, 28, was a scheduler in 1999 and 2000 in the White House office of Vice President Al Gore. Nearly 19 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic began a shocking number, made more . Why Do We Feel So Sad About Queen Elizabeth's Death? ", Ultimately, the couple feels that their special day was a huge success. Gthe reached out toBerrent in New York via direct message after she tweeted aboutFerrer's death, and they soon connected on the phone. . You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. ", Nick loves the way Diana engages with his son Bex and how she's taken time to get to learn about his late wife. I had just recently photographed an event at a local elementary school in a gymnasium that was packed with children and their families moving around in close quarters. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/style/weddings-diana-zicklin-steven-berrent.html. Nick and Diana Gthe with their children (L-R): Bexon, Zelda and Spencer. I was terrified that I had infected people along the way without knowing, and I was desperate to get tested. What followed were hours of conversations, which stretched into weeks, months, advocacy work and a beautiful yet bittersweet romance that evolved as they fought to save the lives of other long COVID sufferers. Long Island mom Diana Berrent, 45, learned that she tested positive Wednesday for coronavirus after days of experiencing terrible aches, nausea and a fever. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. By clicking on SUBSCRIBE, you consent to our Privacy Policy. Send the details to love@people.com for a chance to be featured in Real-Life Love, People.com's series dedicated to sharing extraordinary connections and heartfelt gestures. While the verdict is still out on how effective their antibody-abound plasma is as a COVID-19 treatment, its still important for medical professionals to have access to it. Dianas goal now is to activate and enroll as many others to join Survivor Corps, the Peace Corps of the COVID Generation. She chronicled her illness and recovery in the New York Post and then founded Survivor Corps, the largest grassroots movement in the U.S. dedicated to actively ending the pandemic. Nick is my perfection.". They both gave speeches during whatBerrent described as a 'really intense day.'. She says of their phone calls, "I was really taken by how emotionally honest he was. "It seems like a strange thing to say, but the way that everything happened was so extreme, so violent, so beyond what I would ever wish on my worst enemy, to have to go through what I went through, what my son went through.". Diana Berrent after her second round of plasma donation on April 15, 2020. Diana Sonia Zicklin and Steven Keith Berrent, Cornell law students, are to be married today by Cantor Andrew Edison at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. While scrambling to get medical information and testing, she became an advocate and activist for herself and others. She said later on, her husband also tested positive for a "much more mild case . its first volunteer to be screened to donate antibodies. She barely slept two hours a night due to random internal tremors that startled her awake. I don't know what you have in you to do this. In March 2020, she was one of the first on Long Island, NY to contract COVID-19. Thetelevision and film screenwriter struggledwith a range ofdebilitating long-haul COVID symptoms for 13 months before killing herself at age 50, leaving behind her husband of 20 years and their then-13-year-old son, Bexon. ''Now we lived within blocks of each other in Nashville, where Steven had his own darkroom,'' Ms. Zicklin said. To Berrent, supporting science means that survivors, if they are able, should try to give back in any way they can. Head to the Survivor Corps page to learn more. Her evening look was a sparkly sequined blue cocktail dress infused with sea green and pink, which matched the groom's light blue suit. The children played a major part in their parents' wedding. She was also the founder of Survivor Corps, which started as a way of involving patients in research and plasma donation but evolved into the country's largest support, advocacy and research group for COVID long haulers. Ferrer died by suicide in their Los Angeles home just over a year after she contracted the virus. Legit.ng gathered that Zhao will soon walk down the aisle with the man, Zhao Fei who she was stuck with during the pandemic lockdown after he went down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage.