Simon Wade
EXACTLY three months to the day, expat entertainer Nikki Nock was back to doing what she loves best, after nearly losing her life to COVID-19.
But on Saturday, March 14, things were very different when she went to her local health centre with a severe headache.
Within hours, she was taken alone to Torrevieja Hospital with suspected Covid-19.
Surrounded by medics in full PPE suits, she spent a terrifying two weeks not knowing if she’d see her family, friends or fans again.
We spoke exclusively with the Londoner on Sunday, June 14, as she prepared for another comeback gig on the Costa Blanca.
“It all happened so quickly,” admitted the Torrevieja resident, “and the fact that my husband, Stu, couldn’t come with me, made it horrific.”
“The medical staff were all great, but communication was limited with all the PPE and having lived here for only two years, I haven’t picked up that much lingo!”
Nock (real name Reeder) was given a number of different treatments for pneumonia, all of which had terrible diarrhetic effects.
“The only good thing whilst in there was the fact that I had my phone with me,“ she admitted.
“Being able to keep in touch with everyone was a God-send.”
After two weeks, she had three successive negative tests for the virus and was allowed out, but still has to be tested regularly by a medic at home.
When asked if she had any words of advice for readers back in the UK, the answer was brutally short: “Stay at home and follow the guidelines otherwise you could die.”
“In the overall scheme of things, three or four months’ lockdown is nothing if we’re going to reach some kind of normality.”
Born and raised in Plymouth, Devon, Nock said she feels society is still safer in Spain than in the UK, as the lock-down here has been, “severe, but the people have stuck to it and it’s worked.”
Nikki admitted she is so grateful for the life that she has, with being so close to having it snatched away.
She said: “I was only at Los Naufragos Beach yesterday, thinking that I might never have seen such beauty again – it’s those things that make you realise the value of life.”
Indeed, her first song of the evening was the Rolling Stones’ Angie, which contains the poignant line, “Come on baby dry your eyes, ain’t it good to be alive?”
Nikki Nock’s Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/nikki.parker.372
