Holly Wedding, 63 from Birch Run works to perfect her serve in preparation for the honorary first serve of the Dow Tennis Classic.
Published October 25, 2021.
A nurse her whole life, Holly Wedding, 63, of Birch Run began playing tennis as a young woman on the courts of Saginaw, MI. Her passion for the game led her to become a coach for 20 years and compete at USTA Nationals.
As a bedside nurse at Covenant Healthcare, Holly claims that tennis has kept her fit and helped maintain her job. As a competitor who loves playing in singles matches, she is used to being pushed to levels of exhaustion that tests her lungs and muscles.
In November of 2020, Holly tested positive for Covid-19 and while she stayed optimistic, it took more time than she anticipated to get back on the court.
“I thought I'd be back in a couple of weeks. Don't count me out - I'll be back in December - I'll be back in January. I’d be emailing and setting up matches and stuff,” Holly said. “I never thought I would get as sick as I did.”
December 9, Holly was placed in a medically induced coma and intubated.
“I just closed my eyes. I remembered that I prayed to God. I remembered that I had been in surgery five times a year before and I had been intubated for that. This won't be so bad Lord, I'll be okay. I'm just gonna take a nap and I just closed my eyes,” Holly said.
Having experience from the year prior when Holly had been intubated when she needed skin graft surgery for skin cancer, she thought she knew what to expect. After 33 radiation treatments, she was given the all-clear and the title “cancer survivor”.
Despite those past surgeries, this instance on a vent was far more serious. On more than one occasion, Holly’s family was unsure if she would make it through the night.
Months later, Holly’s fighting spirit eventually helped pull her out of the medically induced coma. She did not become aware of her surroundings again until February of 2021.
“If I had pain, I didn't feel it. While God was holding me, he was blessing you (her nurses and doctors) to give me good care and that's how I see it,” Holly said.
As she was building her strength back, Holly had to overcome the fear of losing her balance even though she had people to help her stay upright. To help herself, she focused on doing all the little things, such as slightly lifting her legs an inch or two off of the mattress or simply raising her hand to lay on her chest.
Near the end of her stay in the hospital, one of her physical therapists noticed the tennis racket put near her bedside. He picked that up and brought it to sessions to help motivate her to get back to the game that she loved.
“The last night before I was being discharged, we played tennis in the hallway. I was in the wheelchair and he was standing up with a racket too,” Holly said.
True to her fightin’ Irish heritage, she left the hospital on March 17 - St. Patrick’s Day. She was greeted by a handful of family and friends, including her tennis pals who stayed in contact throughout her ordeal.
Tennis Center pals came to celebrate Holly being discharged from the hospital.
“They just put it upon themselves to show up and it was really nice to see them and I got hugs from all of them,” Holly said. “They had even sent me a plant that’s now at my house and getting really huge.”
It didn’t take Holly very long to get back to her “happy place” at the Greater Midland Tennis Center and hit a few balls with Director of Tennis, Mike Andrews.
As a part of her recovery, Director of Tennis, Mike Andrews and Holly work together weekly.
“This is really a miracle. We started in about the middle of May just tossing a ball three feet from her and we'd have to wait 10 to 15 seconds between every stroke. Now I'm feeding from across the net and she’s hitting 14, 15, maybe even 16 balls in a row with very little rest. So her improvement over time has just been great,” Mike said. “She loves tennis. She works hard at tennis. Each week we try to push it a little bit more. She's probably doing more here than she is at physical therapy.”
With everything Holly has been through in the last three years with her health, Mike believes Holly still has goals to accomplish.
“Holly's goal even before (Covid-19) was to “fire” as many doctors as she possibly could. You know, she had cancer and she was slowly starting to get rid of some of those doctors. Then she got Covid, but I think that's still probably the goal of Holly's, to fire every doctor that she has right now,” Mike said.
Holly hits regularly with Mike Andrews as part of her recovery from Covid-19.
Mike also shared that it took Covid-19 for Holly to master her ball toss since it was one of the first actions she could perform from a seated position on the court. Even though Holly is still utilizing an oxygen tank, she is now standing at the baseline smashing serves and this self-proclaimed “showboat” is ready to show it off.
On Tuesday, November 2, Holly will perform the ceremonial first serve at the Dow Tennis Classic before the feature event matches.
“Mike asked me if I would want to participate and do the first serve. I figure if he has confidence in me to be able to do that, why not? I used to play a lot and hit the ball hard. So I thought that's like a new beginning for me,” Holly said.
This milestone for Holly is a huge one we would love to share with the whole Midland and surrounding communities. Don’t miss out on your chance to see Holly crush the first serve - dowtennisclassic.com/tickets.
Holly is a mother of four children, grandmother of eight, and a woman with a caring heart and deep faith.
“People say, ‘you're a miracle’. At first, I didn't see it that way. But I do now. I am a miracle. God saved me. I don't know what my purpose is, but he wasn't ready for me yet. There are a lot more things he wants me to do. So I'm trying to search and find out what that is, too. I know there's more out there for me to do.”
No matter where life takes Holly, she knows where she wants to spend time getting herself back into shape and preparing for her next battle.
“I like coming back to tennis. I always want to be here. You know, when someone says, ‘go to your happy place’? My mind is thinking about tennis. This is my happy place,” Holly said.
Everyone who knows her is #HypedForHolly! Join her cheering section on Tuesday, November 2 and the Dow Tennis Classic. Tickets can be purchased at dowtennisclassic.com/tickets.
Watch the video used to introduce Holly at the Dow Tennis Classic and hear her story in her own words.
