The Football Show - Fran Kirby special
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What challenges has Fran Kirby faced during her recovery?
Hello, happy Sunday. Hope you're all holding up okay. Welcome to the football show. We'll be focusing on the women's game for the next half an hour. Joining me as usual is former England international Sue Smith. How are you, Sue?
How did Fran Kirby's heart condition affect her physically and mentally?
I'm very well. Thanks, Jess. How are you? Yeah, good thanks. Good to hear it. Now joining us both on the show this week, we have a very special guest.
What has been Fran Kirby's experience with training after her illness?
She became a global star when she won a bronze medal with England at the 2015 World Cup. You might have also seen her banging in a fair few goals for Chelsea over the last few seasons. Here's a reminder.
Yes, it is, of course, Fran Kirby. Fran, so good to see you. You've got a smile on your face, which is great to see. We haven't seen you for a while. Of course, you haven't played football for about six months, but how are you?
How does Fran Kirby find strength to overcome personal challenges?
I'm good. I've been in a bit of hibernation, I think. That's how it feels. And I'm kind of coming out of it now. So, yeah, I'm good. Thank you.
Now you've obviously revealed in the last few weeks that you're dealing with this heart condition, pericarditis. Just tell us a bit more about that and how that diagnosis came about.
Yeah, it was completely random. Didn't kind of feel poorly at all.
What has Fran Kirby learned about mental health during her recovery?
And then just experienced some quite horrible sharp pains in my chest and tiredness and yeah I went to the hospital and kind of had all the checks the ECG and everything and got diagnosed with it the next day after experience you know quite some nasty chest pain so it was a tough road that's for sure and i was just waiting each kind of day to see how i was feeling and declined quite quickly over within kind of four to six weeks it just got worse and worse and then obviously now i'm coming up the end of the end of the tunnel and yeah i'm feeling good but it was it was a tough road that's for sure and how did you feel that that affected you physically mentally Well, physically, I wasn't able to do anything.
I was sofa bound for a good two months. I wasn't really allowed to do any walking. I wasn't allowed to do anything that would stress my heart or stress me. I was so tired. I just couldn't move really. I was just fed up.
How has the women's game evolved since Fran Kirby turned professional?
If I'm honest, that's just how I felt. I just felt like every day I'd played a 90 minute game and just couldn't do anything at all. But You know, it was a tough, tough few months, but like I said, now I'm coming at the end of it and I'm able to train. I'm able to smile, have a conversation with people. So I'm in a much better place.
Fran, I was going to ask that. How does it feel actually being back training?
It's really nice. It's really nice to be able to push myself.
What are Fran Kirby's thoughts on Chelsea's season so far?
I haven't been able to do that for a long time. I came back a couple of times to try and train, but just had another setback and then another setback. But each time I was able to train for longer. without having symptoms. And then I would experience a symptom for a week or two. So yeah, it was really tough mentally coming back and then having a setback and then coming back again, having to stop again for a few weeks. So yeah, it's nice now to be able to go six weeks now without any symptoms and feeling really positive about it.
Fran, what strikes me about you is that you seem to have been through so much in your life already, you know, family tragedy, which you've been very public about, also long-term injury, and now this illness. Where do you find that inner strength to overcome all of this?
It's kind of one of them things, a bit of Balotelli, why always me, huh?
What are Fran Kirby's future aspirations in football?
You know, I think it's just kind of coming out the end of it. makes me feel stronger and makes me feel more positive. You know, when you're coming out with something that's so hard and you feel yourself getting better or feeling better about a situation, that's kind of what I look for. Like, I just kind of try to see a different positive every day. At the beginning, that was really tough because there was not many positives. You know, I was waking up, going back down to the sofa, falling asleep again for maybe four to five hours. So there wasn't really any positives.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What challenges has Fran Kirby faced during her recovery?
0:14–0:27
2
How did Fran Kirby's heart condition affect her physically and mentally?
0:27–0:37
3
What has been Fran Kirby's experience with training after her illness?
0:37–1:19
4
How does Fran Kirby find strength to overcome personal challenges?
1:19–1:44
5
What has Fran Kirby learned about mental health during her recovery?
1:44–2:49
6
How has the women's game evolved since Fran Kirby turned professional?
2:49–3:22
7
What are Fran Kirby's thoughts on Chelsea's season so far?
3:22–4:14
8
What are Fran Kirby's future aspirations in football?
4:14–21:42
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Sky Sports Premier League Podcast
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