By Aline Chatel
Published on 7 Mar 21 @ 5:17 pm
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Margaux Huaumé-Danet, 25, had to live an exceptional experience this season. For the first time in her professional football career, she was going to play at the highest French level. His season in Division 1 however came to an end. In September 2020, the captain of Havre, who resides in Caen, contracted Covid-19.
Since then, while she is usually distinguished by her physical condition, she has never regained an athletic level worthy of the name. Unusual shortness of breath, coughing fits to vomit, chest pain… after several months of uncertainty, Margaux Huaumé-Danet learned that she was suffering from a small inflammation in the heart. She testifies.
“They called me the little Covid”
“I contracted the Covid in September 2020, probably in Paris when I took part in a Canal + show. The following Friday, I triggered symptoms. No girl on my team was positive. I spent seven days at home, then resumed jogging for seven days solo. I stood ten meters from everyone. I was the outcast of the team. Everyone called me the little Covid because I was the first. There was a wave later.
“I was constantly out of breath”
I missed two games against Paris FC and Soyaux. When I came back I was at 50%. I was given the holder directly, for lack of staff, without prior re-athletic training. I felt more tired than the others but it was not too obvious. I was breathing badly during the effort. After games and training I used to cough all night. I was constantly out of breath. We said to ourselves that it was normal, that it was the Covid. We lacked perspective. We didn’t panic too much.
“We had to adapt …”
I continued but I was not well. From an athletic standpoint, we saw in my statistics that I was playing diminished. I even felt a little uneasy at the end of a match against Dijon. I then injured my ankle and was arrested for a month. I came back in January, we changed coaches at the same time and the pace went from five workouts a week to eight. My body went through a pretty huge upheaval but I thought it was normal, that it had to be adapted, that it would come back. There was my injury, then the Christmas break …
“There, I was afraid”
But eventually we realized that my heart was beating too fast and not recovering. My heart rate did not go down after a sprint. I continued to cough every night, sometimes throwing up. At the beginning of February, I finally felt really good on a session. It was the first time since the Covid. The next day, I took my car like every day to go to training. After half an hour (I’m driving from Caen to Le Havre), I felt pain in my chest and my left arm stiffened. The journey was very long… There, I was afraid. I went straight to see the physiotherapist when I arrived, then the doctor and the cardiologist. It was then that I knew I had pericarditis. It’s a little inflammation in the heart. It is not a very serious inflammation but when it affects the heart, we inevitably ask questions.
“I ran for two minutes, I walked for two minutes”
We cannot say for sure that it is because of the Covid but there is no doubt. I have never been well since I got sick. The stress tests I had done to resume were on my bike. All the results were good. But in fact my body reacted much less well to running. Today, I am still in re-athleticism. At first, I ran for two minutes, I walked for two minutes. We increased the volume and reduced the recovery time. I am a treatment. Now I can do 20 minutes of running in a row. The pulsations are still high, but it’s okay.
“I was fighting against myself”
It got me drunk because I wasn’t fighting against my opponents, I was fighting against myself. I got angry with myself several times. I had the armband but I couldn’t encourage the players because I didn’t have the energy to. I suffered more from my matches than profited. However, I only made two games without the Covid. My team and my coach knew it wasn’t my fault. I am very frustrated. I have never known D1, it’s a challenge, the club relies heavily on us… But we have a girl who has been crossed, another who had a detachment of the pericardium… It allows me to put things into perspective . I keep my spirits up. In three years, I went from DH to D1, I can see how lucky I am to have experienced that.
“Still not recovered the taste and smell”
I normally resume training with the group on Monday. The cardiologist told me “step by step”. It can last a month like it can last six months. We won’t take any risk. I am fortunate to be very well attended. In an amateur club, I would have cut completely. Perhaps the hardest part is still not having recovered the taste and smell. Apparently, what we ate at Christmas was delicious (smile). I’m just starting to smell again, I’m on the right track. “
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