FEVER COST ME 2 YEARS
Squash star was Aitken all over after mosquito hell
It was August, just a few weeks after the curtain had come down on the Commonwealth Games, and Lisa Aitken was in a daze.
Not one brought on by a medal but a mosquito. Watching what might have been in Glasgow was a sickener but the real illness was just setting in.
Hallucinating and vomiting 6600 miles from home, the squash player headed for the first flight out of Malaysia – unaware she was suffering from dengue fever.
The potentially deadly tropical disease ruled her out of playing the sport she loves for over two years because of debilitating fatigue that set in long after the vomiting had passed.
Now, 15 months after making her comeback, Aitken is preparing to represent Scotland in her second Games.
She admitted: “It was a bit of a rollercoaster, emotionally and physically.
“I contracted it at a tournament and it set me back for two, three years off court. The dengue fever lasted only a couple of weeks in my system. The initial symptoms are nausea, dizziness, confusion then follows vomiting, hallucinations and for me just general fatigue.
“But that fatigue lasted quite a long time after it was all out of my system. It certainly wasn’t very nice when you’re in a foreign country by yourself.
“At the hallucinations and the throwing up stage I knew something was wrong and wanted to get out of there. So I got the first flight home and I was put straight in hospital.
“I didn’t know at the time whether it was one of these contagious things or not, which was the big risk of flying, but I just wanted to get out of there.
“There were days when I didn’t know if I wanted to be a squash player any more. There were times I didn’t think I was strong enough to physically or mentally get back.
“But you find a lot out about yourself when you’re really tested and forced to strip everything in your life back and ref lect on what you’ve done, what you really want as an athlete and as a person.
“It was a tough time but it was a great time as well in self- development and character building.”
Eight years on from her Games debut, the Dundee-born 28-year-old considers it a new chapter.
Delhi and the Gold Coast bookend a career that saw Aitken switch allegiances to England five years ago – sacrificing a possible home Games for the sake of better coaching – then back to Scotland.
Asked about Glasgow, she said: “It’s a bit of a touchy subject that 2014 Games. I wasn’t there live – that was probably a bit too painful. I did watch the majority of the other sports on the TV but didn’t pay too much attention to the squash until the final – it was just a little bit hard.
“I’ve just turned 28 so some people might think I’m coming to the end of my athletic career or should be in my peak.
“But having that time off and having been back on tour a year, I do feel fresh. My body certainly feels great and that’s a lot to do with ref lecting back on my training, making sure I’m doing the right things and not just volume.
“In a way, this feels like my first Games because it has been so long, it feels
fresh and exciting. I see myself as at the beginning of my career and with a lot more to come – and hopeful ly with a lot more Commonwealth Games as well.”
Aitken has shown as much with her first two World Tour titles in the space of five months last year.
The 28-year-old, who will be in the women’s singles and doubles as well as mixed doubles Down Under, said: “This one is a real ly big medal chance for us so there’s pressure there but good pressure.
“I feel like now I’m ready to shine and I’m looking forward to the pressures that it brings.
“Like most sports, a lot of our funding depends on medals. I don’t think there have been that many potential squash medals in the past, certainly not in the past two Games.
“It would be huge [for the sport] but we’ve probably got the strongest team we’ve had in a very long time.”