Monday 6 April 2020 07:18, UK
England lacrosse star Rebecca Jordache should have been playing home internationals against Wales and Scotland this past weekend.
Instead, she is in isolation after testing positive for coronavirus - contracted working as a junior doctor at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.
"I was actually at work and came over quite hot and quite feverish," she explained ahead of her return to work next week.
"Initially I ignored it. Like if you're on the pitch and injured, you're tempted to stay on and play.
"I think I've been incredibly lucky. My symptoms have been really mild and I have to remember that I'm treating patients in hospital who have very severe symptoms and are critically unwell.
"I've been at home with a bit of a fever and not really feeling myself. A bit lethargic. That classic symptom of losing of my taste and my smell."
A week in isolation has given Jordache time to reflect on her job and life without lacrosse. And she says the NHS is responding in a manner which reminds her of her other life as an elite sportswoman.
"It's amazing to be part of the NHS at the moment and it's incredible how we've managed to respond to the situation," she added.
"Being a doctor on the frontline I've seen how quickly we've had to make changes and adapt on a daily basis.
"The rapid feedback between us as junior doctors on the frontline and the consultants and the managers and Public Health England, that communication across the board is amazing and really important.
"It's like coaches feeding back to their players. Then players feeding back to their coaches about what is or isn't working.
"In the World Cup I played a few years ago, we had match after match. The debrief would really impact on how the team functioned the next day because you'd take the learning points. And that's exactly what's happening in the hospital."
The recently graduated Cardiff University student knows though the coming weeks will test her and the NHS as never before.
"Yes, I would love to have more PPE and would love to test everybody but the enormity of that, I appreciate, means it just isn't possible," Jordache said.
"Our intensive care unit is pretty full, we're quite lucky we've got a big unit but it's getting to a point where we're really having to think quickly about people's escalation plans.
"We know the peak's coming and it's that level of anticipatory fear of when will that be and how long will that last. And then the implications of it after"
Despite the crisis, Jordache says she was tested quickly and admits it has been psychologically easier having the result confirmed.
She also refuses to blame the Government for failing to provide enough protective kit.
"There's no malevolence out there," she said. "They're trying their hardest to get PPE to where we need it.
"There are a lot of people at home with quite mild symptoms but I only see the really unwell patients in hospital.
"I'm just feeling helpless at home really. It's quite difficult to be off work at the moment. There are a lot of feelings of guilt at being not on the frontline and having to take time out of work.
"I relate that to feeling sidelined or injured on the pitch, watching my team-mates work really hard while I can't.
"I need to take this time out and protect my patients and my colleagues from contracting it from me and just know that I will be fit and ready in a week's time to get back and help"
Her return to lacrosse won't be as swift.
The current sporting hiatus means the England squad are having to connect virtually and train solo - and outside - after the closure of gyms.
"It's really inspiring to be part of a group of such motivational athletes who are making the best of a bad situation," she said.
"We're keeping in close virtual contact trying to motivate each other and the second we can be back in the pitch we will be."
But the international lacrosse season has been decimated already.
As well as those home internationals, a series with Japan has been lost, and a season-ending 10-day tour to Australia cancelled ahead of the World Cup in the USA next year.
"I don't think it is going to change our prospects at all. It's going to make us hungrier to get out there and perform" Jordache says before revealing how hard Covid-19 has hit her financially as well as physically.
"Lacrosse doesn't get any funding. I pay to keep fit and play for my country.
"It's damaging for us financially. We've paid for these tours, we've paid for these games which aren't now happening. We all have jobs which pay for our lacrosse."
And the cost of that lost tour to Australia?
"A good two months' worth of salary. Quite a bit of money!" she laughs.
She is not the only England lacrosse international currently on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19.
"Our captain Emma Adams is a policewoman so she is out working a lot at the moment," she added.
"We've been talking a lot. She's been a great support for me. And we've been discussing some of the things we've been seeing and dealing with.
"You step up best you can and it's great to have that support from my team-mates who are also working hard"
Not to mention the general love for the NHS which has amazed Jordache over the last month.
"There's just an amazing sense of togetherness across the board really," she said.
"I didn't quite realise the enormity of the situation myself. I've been in such a work bubble. The first Thursday we got clapped, I got really emotional and overwhelmed, and that was the first time I realised just how behind the NHS everyone is.
"It's incredible to be part of a group that's getting so much support at the moment."
