Businesswoman Hermi Dempsey puts health battle and trauma behind her

Hermi Dempsey and her twin sister celebrated their 40th birthday this year, something she initially took for granted three years ago.

“Forty is a very stable age; I am very happy where I am and very gentle with myself because I nearly died at 37 years old when I contracted Covid in 2021. Not everybody turns 40 years old. Growing old is a privilege.”

Dempsey was born as one of a set of twins in Springs where they grew up and matriculated in 2004.

“We are not identical twins but we do look alike. I am taller and Anette is older. We had separate wombs, so we are biological sisters,” she explained.

Demsey said she and her sister had that typical twin bond you saw on a television show.

The path Dempsey took

“At the age of 17, I completed my first nail technician course. I have been an entrepreneur since very young. My mother sent me for training in the one school holiday. I completed my exams in the next school holiday and was a qualified nail technician before I wrote matric.”

Dempsey said her first clients included her mother’s friends and her school friends’ mothers.

After school, Demsey wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps by studying education at Tshwane University of Technology and moved to Pretoria.

“In varsity I started doing the hostel mothers’ nails, of which some still support me today,” she said.

During the third wave of Covid infections in June 2021, Dempsey contracted the delta strain which nearly cost her her life.

Dempsey remembers phoning the ambulance because she started to struggle to breathe. They told her that most of the hospitals were full and “I would end up in a tent outside of a hospital”.

“I was sent away from Die Wilgers hospital because they were full and eventually got a bed at Unitas Hospital in Centurion.

“To find an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine is a blessing. That was the first miracle. There was only one machine available at the time and they chose me. At this time, people were dying left and right.”

Dempsey said although the chances of success on an ECMO machine were only 5%, it was worth the risk if you were fighting for your life.

“I saw the woman next to me, who was on an ECMO machine for 30 days, die. It’s difficult when you face death in the eyes. You are either a fight or flight person and I am definitely a fighter. I knew there was no way I was going to give up.”

Being in a coma

Dempsey was in a coma for almost a month and when she woke up her twin sister was the first person she saw.

Because her sister had Covid during the first wave of infections, they suspected she may also be prone to the infection, but never anticipated that it would nearly be fatal.

“It was so scary; I saw people die around me. I could hear the woman next to me gasp for air as she gave her last breath.

“Because I was connected to a ventilator, I couldn’t call for help so I used my long nails to tap against the metal bed to try and call for help,” she said.

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Dealing with all the trauma

Dempsey said after that she was traumatised and asked the nurses for spoons to use to get their attention in the event of another death.

“I saw the mortuary staff collect or leave bodies behind due to space. I saw them put ice packets on bodies to preserve them.

“It was traumatic, so one of the first things I did after being discharged from hospital was to go see a trauma counsellor.”

Dempsey said she had to deal with her trauma as soon as possible because the sound of people dying due to a lack of oxygen kept her up at night.

After she was discharged from the hospital she had to start over and learn to eat, walk and work again – let alone do a set of nails again.

“I remember telling my one friend that I was done with doing nails and seeing the question mark in her eyes. She asked if I could continue doing her nails and then the bug bit me again,” she said.

Dempsey realised that doing women’s nails was more than just the shade of red or pink but rather about her calling to work with people, even if it was just to listen to them.

“I don’t just work with their hands; I work with their hearts too.”

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