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From death bed to The Hundred: Nicole Harvey’s awe-inspiring fighting spirit

Nicole Harvey is now playing in The Hundred for Welsh Women and having played in all the five matches of the team till August 06, she has taken three wickets with her leg break. She did brilliant in the domestic T20 competition, the Charlotte Edwards cup for Western Storm to bag a Hundred contract with Fire. But it wasn’t always like that for Harvey. At one time in her life, she actually believed that she could not live anymore. 

“I honestly thought I was going to die. I’d even written a will because that’s how real it was. I certainly didn’t think that I’d ever play sport again,” Harvey told Storm website in July this year. But this statement was just the tip of the iceberg of what the 28-year-old went through during the second wave of the Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. 

Recounting her experiences, Harvey said, “On the 30th of August last year I became really ill. I was 32 weeks pregnant, and I hadn’t been feeling well for about a week. It got to the point where I couldn’t even lift my legs to get my trousers on.”

“Within 40 hours of that, I was diagnosed with sepsis. I had a nephrostomy bag fitted to my right kidney. I was seriously ill in the ICU and they thought that I could die. It was pretty scary,” added the Storm player, who had not represented the team before this season. 

Harvey further explains that it got so worse that even the doctors lost hope and asked her husband to see her even when she was suffering from Covid-19. “It got so bad that they eventually let my husband in to see me despite the Covid restrictions. I had to have a C-section at 37 weeks due to complications and because I was so weak,” she said. 

But as the saying goes, it ain’t over till it actually is. So Nicole too refused to give and fought literally till her last breath. “I couldn’t even sit up, let alone walk for a while. Even in January this year, I couldn’t run. It’s been quite a whirlwind, but Jonty and I are here to tell the tale,” said the Cornwall born. 

But in her fight, she was not alone, there were many that fought alongside her and Nicole doesn’t forget to thank them enough. “My mum lived in my house for three months and slept on the floor because of Covid. She bed bathed me and got me in and out of bed so that my husband could carry on working,’ she said. 

Now part of the Fire and earlier having represented Somerset Women, Nicole also thanked her teams and support staff who have allowed her to carry her son along in every tournament. “They’ve allowed Jonty to be on the road with us and things like that. Everyone has just gone above and beyond to be supportive,” she said. 

It wasn’t easy for Nicole to fight back as she said, “When I first tried to run at the end of January, I couldn’t really do it and I just cried.” But instead of giving up, her near-death experience has made her more resilient and she did fight back. Ever since her comeback to cricket in June this year, she has taken 9 wickets in 10 games and wants to keep on contributing to all her teams as much as she can. 

“I just want to make good contributions to Somerset, Western Storm and Welsh Fire. I want to be someone who is a key part of the team. I want to keep getting fitter and stronger and improving my game. I want to learn from those around me and I’m looking forward to picking the brains of people like Sarah Taylor,” said Nicole. 

After all that she has been through, if there is anyone that could touch the heights that she/he wants to, it is Nicole Harvey.

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