Stairs are a challenge for Carrie MacKay, the Langley woman who has been chronicling her battle with COVID-19 in a series of posts on her .

MacKay shared a video to show the effort it takes her just to go downstairs.

鈥淎 lot of people think that once I go home, everything is totally back to normal,鈥� MacKay told the Langley Advance Times in a Tuesday, Feb. 23 interview.

鈥滻t isn鈥檛, though. I still get really winded, and struggle to breathe, if I move around or do stairs.鈥�

She鈥檚 been told it could be another three months to a year before she has recovered.

鈥淚 can now walk for six (to) 10 minutes a day and I can stand with the oxygen on for quite a bit longer,鈥� she related.

鈥淚鈥檓 improving more and more every day, building up my strength, (and) I鈥檓 starting to work on a few design projects from home on my laptop (but) it鈥檒l still be a while before I can go back to my office in Fort Langley to work full time 鈥� the portable oxygen tanks will need to go with me there 鈥� and also, window painting might be a little bit longer, since I don鈥檛 know when I can climb ladders and load my car with tool boxes and supplies.鈥�

MacKay is hoping to beat the odds so she can resume kayaking with her dog, as well as hiking, biking, by the summer.

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Friends set up a GoFundMe page, 鈥溾�� to help with bills and food, which MacKay called 鈥渟uper awesome.鈥�

People have been following her story across Canada and in the U.S., she discovered.

鈥淧eople I don鈥檛 even know have messaged me on Facebook, messenger or Instagram,鈥� MacKay described.

鈥淎 lot of them don鈥檛 know anyone with COVID and they had no idea the symptoms could be like this - and can鈥檛 believe what I went through鈥� and they thank me for sharing. Some people have COVID and message me and ask what to do?

Her advice: 鈥渘ot to wait at home as long as I did when my fever was so high 鈥� and to go to the hospital if it gets really bad.鈥�

For the physically active MacKay, 46, a graphic designer and artist who has no underlying health conditions and doesn鈥檛 smoke, her encounter with COVID began on Jan. 22, when she began to feel unwell.

Two days later, she was diagnosed with COVID-19, and by Jan, 29, she was admitted to Langley Memorial Hospital, then transferred a few days later to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital.

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In her Facebook postings, MacKay described the impact of the coronavirus, how at at times she was fighting to draw a full breath during her stay in the ICU, and finding it nearly impossible to sleep as a result.