Hotspur Hero – Farah Mapara

Wed 29 July 2020, 10:54|Tottenham Hotspur

Hotspur Heroes, supported by

Our next Hotspur Hero is Farah Mapara, an intensive care nurse at the Club’s local hospital, North Middlesex.

Having only recently returned to work after a long-term illness when the pandemic struck, Farah quickly found herself fighting what she describes as “a battle you feel like you’ll never win.”

“I walked into cardiac arrests, alarms going off and everyone going at 100 miles per hour trying to care for a huge overflow of patients,” she told us. “Of course, I wanted to help, but the other part of me was so scared.”

Farah has spent the last three-and-a-half years working in intensive care, but for colleagues brought in from other departments to help deal with COVID-19, it was a completely new experience.

She added: “Because there were so many nurses who hadn’t been in this environment before, I was giving them a lot of support with patient care.

“Some asked us how we do it all the time, which made me realise that it takes a lot to work in intensive care. I think the pandemic has been an eye opener not just for them but for the whole world about what intensive care is all about.”

Reflecting on her experience over the last four months, Farah has mixed emotions. Physical and mental exhaustion is combined with a sense of pride at her incredible contributions to the fight against COVID-19.

She said: “In a never-ending battle, you wonder if you’ll make it to the other side. Coming from a long-term sickness, I didn’t know if I would even be able to help. But to have the ability to help somebody’s family member, you have to come forward and put your skills to use. It was also really humbling and amazing to pass on my knowledge to colleagues I’ve never met before.”

For Spurs fan Farah, living so close to our stadium and seeing how it has been transformed to support her hospital has given her a lift during this extremely difficult time: “What motivated me was driving past the stadium every morning on my way to work. Knowing that my colleagues were in there helping people just gave me some hope.”

Farah came to support the Club via her proud sisters, Sophya and Sara, who nominated her as a Hotspur Hero.

She smiled: “We absolutely love coming to Spurs – the experience of a live match, the atmosphere between fans and being part of a family, it’s just fantastic.

“My favourite Spurs moment so far is definitely sitting in Harry Kane’s seat in the dressing room on a stadium tour – that was life-changing!”