Her friends thought pancreatitis would keep this woman from celebrating St. Paddy's Day. They were wrong
When it comes to St. Patrick's Day at O'Reilly's Pub in St. John's, Nikki Davis and her friends sitting in the session booth is as common a sight as green lights on the stage.
Davis has been to the pub for every St. Patrick's Day celebration of the last 23 years, often spending every hour from 7 a.m. to close at the bar.
But when she was admitted to hospital last week for pancreatitis and cholecystitis and in need of surgery, she feared the tradition was in jeopardy.
Her friends had a backup plan, however, creating a life size cardboard bust of Davis so that she could drink with them in spirit if she couldn't make it.
"Usually when I come here in the morning I get a Guinness and a coffee together, and I always take like kind of a cheers picture with it, and they blew it up life size on a stick," Davis said with a laugh Friday.
But the leprechauns were smiling on Davis this year, who through a bit of luck — and a chat with her care provider to push her surgery two weeks because it couldn't happen before Friday — was able to head downtown to continue the tradition and drink non-alcoholic beer with her own cardboard cutout.
"I got out [Thursday] afternoon, so I'm so grateful to be here," she said. "Now there's really two of me here today."
And despite the non-alcoholic beverages, she says it won't dampen her holiday spirit.
"I'm high on life today so it just doesn't even matter. It's my favourite day."
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