University of Arkansas cornerback signee Nick Turner has had a front seat to the seriousness of the coronavirus and the impact on his hometown of New Orleans.
His mother Nichole, an emergency room nurse at Ochsner Medical Center-West Bank Campus in Gretna, has seen the worst of the virus, which motivated her to stress to her family the importance of staying at home.
"Just know this is no joke," she said. "This virus doesn't discriminate. Anyone can get it by simple contact with someone who can be totally asymptomatic, but be a carrier of the virus."
Forbes reported that by March 26, the city had the highest per-capita death rate of anywhere in the nation -- more than twice as high as any other city in the country, according to an analysis from The Times-Picayune/Advocate.
Mardi Gras celebrations in the city earlier in the year are widely blamed for New Orleans being one of the nation's hot spots for the virus. There have been highs and lows for Nichole since the pandemic started.
"I take on the emotions of others fairly easy sometimes to a fault," she said. "I think that's what makes me a good nurse so far, but during this time it's been one of the most difficult times that I've had to deal with. In the emergency room, we see a lot of highs and lows on a daily basis but the magnitude of what we've see at its peaks were unreal. It was unbelievable."
"We had a lot of nurses bail because they couldn't handle it. It was that bad, but the fact that I've been able to keep myself safe and my family safe and no one in my immediate family has been directly impacted by this virus so far, it kind of keeps me going and the fact I can come home to my family, a lot of nurses can't. I can come home to my family every day. It kind of keeps me going."
Protecting her family is paramount for Nichole. To do that, she takes her work clothes off in the garage as soon as she arrives home and puts them in the washer to minimize the potential exposure to her husband Wil, Nick and youngest son Jeremy.
"I go straight to the shower and I don't talk to anybody until I'm showered and my hair is washed and I'm completely fresh and clean," she said. "That's when my family sees me."
Nick takes things in stride and is confident his mother will be OK.
"For me it's not as difficult because I know she's going to do what she needs to do to stay safe, and she's going to protect us as well from all of the things she's seen from her job," he said.
As the number of deaths increased at the hospital, Nichole's stress level also climbed.
"I think the lowest point for me ... was," Nichole said before breaking up for a long pause. "When I was walking into work, and we now had a refrigerated truck parked on our loading dock and they're loading bodies into the truck because our morgue is saturated. That was the lowest point for me."
Nick and his family do their part in giving his mother refuge from the stress of work.
"We've been playing card games, cooking and just hanging around the family staying inside," Nick said. "That's the main thing she likes to do. Just hang around and talk to everybody. So when she gets home we try to either let her relax or have like a family conversation or a card game."
The high point for Nichole was celebrating the recovery of her best friend's mother from the virus.
"Her mom was at one of our facilities, and she was pretty bad," Nichole said. "She was on a [ventilator] for a little while, and she was able to leave the hospital. She was our facilities' 1,500th patient to be discharged after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. There was a big celebration for her. That was a high for me."
The pandemic has been life-changing.
"The first thing that changed is you don't take the little things for granted," Nichole said. "It also changed me professionally. You have to do this with a team of nurses, and it has made my team that I normally work with, it's brought us closer to one another. It's hard to explain but it will never be the same after this."
Nursing is her calling, she said.
"I didn't choose this profession, I was called for this profession," she said. "For me, this is a fight. This is what I have to do and I take pride in what I do."
She and he husband are proud of Nick and are preparing themselves to see him off to Fayetteville for the start of his college career, minus the normal celebration the family enjoys when one does well.
"I'm sad that we won't be able to celebrate the accomplishments like we planned on," Nichole said. "Our family is a big celebratory family. We like to celebrate everybody's wins and accomplishments."
Despite Arkansas being more than 600 miles from home, Nick will have peace of mind once in Fayetteville.
"Of course, I'm going to miss my momma, but I won't be as worried about her because I know she's going to do her part and stay safe and do what she needs to do to keep everybody else at home safe," Nick said. "That really won't be a problem or something to worry about."
Turner, 6-0, 186 pounds, of New Orleans Brother Martin had an outstanding high school career and that led him to commit to Georgia Tech in June of last year.
He reopened his recruitment Dec. 2 and eventually pledged to the Hogs after accumulating scholarship offers from Penn State, Virginia, Baylor, Memphis, Tennessee, Texas Tech and others.
Brother Martin Coach Mark Bonis said Turner's football IQ and work ethic set him up well for early playing time.
"One of the big reasons why he'll be successful in regards to the SEC and compete early on is his knowledge of the game," Bonis said. "How many kids are grinding with his God-given ability? He really works. It's cliche to say, but he's one of the first ones in and last ones to leave."
Nick has lofty goals for his first year in the SEC.
"I'm trying to be freshman All-American," he said. "I'm trying to change the culture up there back to what it used to be."
His talent is a good match for defensive coordinator Barry Odom's scheme.
"I'm a man-to-man press corner," Turner said. "That's what I do best. I know that's what coach Odom likes to do. Get guys in their face and run with them. I know that's what I do best. That's what I'm going to bring in."
Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman made a statement to Turner by making him one of the first prospects he visited after taking the job in Fayetteville.
"It was one of the moments I'll never forget because he came to my house as soon as he got the job," Turner said. "It was a couple of days after he got the job, he flew down and came to our house, and we talked and he was talking about how he expects big things out of me, and he sees I have what it takes to make it to the NFL and he's going to prepare me to get there."
His determination and strong will are traits he shares with his mother. Nichole, who's been a nurse for 20 years, is also attending school to become a nurse practitioner.
"She's one of the hardest-working people I know," he said. "She never stops, and she always gets done what she wants to get done, and she won't let anything get in her way."