Saeks, 25, is a poet who has channeled her experience with Long COVID into her creative work. An honors graduate of Colorado State University, Nalani was on a path to a graduate program in Marriage and Family Therapy after two years spent traveling and working with children as a nanny and para-educator. Her promising future, however, was put on indefinite hold in May 2024, when she fell ill with Long COVID and became bed-bound. Since then, poetry has become a vital tool for expressing her complex emotions as she continues to work to heal.