Nash Holmes details life-threatening infection that ate his bone and left him unable to walk

A Melbourne local footy star reveals the physical and mental toll of a life-threatening infection, picked up in Bali, which ate through his hip, left him hospitalised for weeks and unable to walk for months.

Montmorency star midfielder Nash Holmes.

“It puts life in perspective pretty quickly when you’re lying in hospital.”

Melbourne’s Nash Holmes knows how close he came to death after a rare bacterial infection, caught in Bali, ate away his hip and shutdown his body.

Nearly a month in the Alfred Hospital, two months more needing specialist care and unable to walk to 70 days, it was the 27-year-old’s hardest physical and mental challenge.

A salmonella infection was triggered by a bout of gastro back in Australia and led to piriformis pyomyositis, a rare musculoskeletal complication.

With no warning, the Montmorency local footy star woke up one night in debilitating pain, unable to move, as the infection ate into his hip bone and hit his sciatic nerve.

Nash Holmes in action for Montmorency. Picture: Field of View Photography

Nash Holmes recovering in hospital.

It took doctors six days to figure out the issue, leaving him without major pain medication, narrowly avoiding a move to intensive care as his lungs collapsed and his body threatened to go septic.

“The gasto was around Christmas time, the bug was in my gut and that’s when it’s attacked and worked its way through the blood into the hip and sat there for six or seven weeks. It started eating away at my bone, part of my hip is missing,” Holmes said.

“I was working hard, training flat out, it was February 10, I went to the gym and that night woke up at 1am and couldn’t move, just horrific pain.

“I had to ring my old house mate, Aaron Heppell, because I didn’t want to call an ambulance – I wasn’t sure if I needed it, obviously I did but I was trying to be tough I guess.

“He came over and said ‘you’re cooked’.

“The ambulance rocked up, they had to carry me onto the stretcher, it’s hard to explain the pain – I was in shock, I was shaking, I was in so much pain I was crying, it was pretty scary.

“I was showing signs of kidney stones, so I had to fast for that, then it wasn’t that, ‘you’re back’s flared up’ and it’s potentially surgery, so I’m fasting for that.

“It took them about six days to work out what was wrong with me but in that time, because of the potentially surgery and fasting, I wasn’t on any strong pain medication.

Nash Holmes recovering in hospital.

“My body kept shutting down, they thought I had pneumonia, my right lung collapsed, I was on an oxygen tank for four or five days, I had four emergency MET calls and they reckon I was one day away from going septic and going into ICU.

“I ended up spending 23 days in hospital, I had a PICC line in my arm, I was in-patient (care) for 54 days and I needed assistance walking for 70 days.

“I was pumped with ketamine for two weeks non-stop, then on the oxycodone drip, so it’s been challenging and now, we’re more than 90 days, and I’m still on pain medication to help, it’s been a long process.”

Holmes is still having weekly follow-ups with his GP and is unsure if the bone will regrow.

A commercial plumber by trade, the whole episode has seen him miss the last three months of work and he’s expecting to miss two more before returning to light duties.

A return to football this season is the goal but it’s very much on the backburner for now.

Having gone through the majority of the pre-season, Holmes was a healthy 85kg.

He came out of care at 75kg.

The ordeal has taken a significant toll on his body and also mentally.

“The doctor said if this happened in Bali, you’re probably not making it,” he said.

Nash Holmes, in action for Port Melbourne, hurdles Williamstown’s Toby Triffett.

“They said being so young and fit I was lucky I could fight it and one of the guys I work with, his mum had it and just recently she passed away.

“It was challenging. You never got long-term answers, it was just day-by-day, and the start was crazy not knowing what was wrong was scary.

“It took a toll mentally, not being able to work, and the footy side of things.

“I had a good year and got rubbed out of the league medal unfortunately with a stiff suspension so I was determined to go one better with the grand final (loss) and individually, so it was a tough pill to swallow knowing how hard I worked.

“To spent 23 days in hospital and not have surgery, you think am I ever going to be good again? People have open-heart surgery and they’re out in four days.”

Holmes counts his lucky stars he had the support of family and friends to get through.

With his family back in their home town of Sale, his mum and dad would catch the train up to Melbourne to help alongside his partner, who was also juggling legal exams.

Having come through the Gippsland Power and moved to Melbourne in 2016, the midfielder was a VFL star at North Melbourne, Essendon and Port Melbourne and also spent time at Keilor, St Albans and Deer Park before moving to Montmorency.

He said he saw the true colours of his friends, which was a major boost.

“The biggest thing that got me through was the support, from the footy club some of the boys came and visited, I had visitors every day.

“My partner was very supportive but was in a tough position, she was working away when I got admitted and then started her six-week Bar Readers course, so she is now a barrister.

“I put it like someone trying to get drafted at a draft camp for six weeks, it’s full on.

“Dad is retired, so he caught the train down to come and look after me, and mum works part-time so would come down when she could but both being in Sale didn’t make it easy.

“With the in-patient, I had a nurse coming to my house every single day and that helped a lot.

“And thank God, if that didn’t exist I would still have been in hospital and it was tough, I was struggling, for the first 15 days I did like 200 steps or something crazy.”

Holmes has worked his way through a wheelchair and crutches and is now walking freely.

He makes the long commute up from Middle Park to Montmorency training every Saturday and attends each game.

Younger brother Hudson has joined him at the Magpies this season, coming up from Sale, and has impressed, kicking a goal in all three appearances so far.

He’s trying to help out where he can but admits he’s not a good football watcher.

NFNL: LOCAL FOOTY RALLIES FOR EPPING FAV AFTER HORROR INJURY

LEADER: GET YOUR NORTHERN FOOTY NEWS HERE

NFNL: RESERVOIR FINDING ITS FEET, SNAPS MAJOR DROUGHTS

“They reckon at this stage I’ll make a full recovery so I’m hopeful of playing this year but the main goal is getting healthy and back to work, then we’ll assess footy,” he said.

“I’m trying to stay involved … I’ve watched the last two games and it’s tough, I felt sick at times because I wanted to be out there that bad.

“The shittiest time of the week is Saturday at 2pm, whereas it’s the boys’ favourite time of the week, especially if something happens and you’ve got to fly the flag I just want to get out there.”

Montmorency is 2-2 through the opening four rounds and hosts undefeated Heidelberg at Montmorency Park on Saturday in the first grand final rematch of the season.

Originally published as Nash Holmes details life-threatening infection that ate his bone and left him unable to walk