Support the Davis Family

THE ACCIDENT

The Day Of
On April 5, 2019 while doing a routine weight workout with his son at home, Henry was completing his third set of dumbbell presses with only 3 reps to go. He was using a standard dumbbell that had a total of 25 pounds on a threaded bar with a screw-on collar. Everything seemed right: he wasn't tired, the weight was normal, and he was spending time bonding with his son. While lying on his back in the living room with the dumbbells overhead his left arm completely gave out without warning and the next thing Henry remembers was the dumbbell had struck his face from arm's length above.

In pain, Henry called for Karen who was at the kitchen table and having rolled over onto his hands and knees the blood started streaming from his face to the floor. Karen acted quickly and grabbed a kitchen towel that Henry pushed against his face to clot the bleeding. He realized he was about to blackout and told his wife and son as much when Karen quickly rolled him over to his back and had their 13-year-old son hold his feet above his heart to reverse the passing out. Once Henry came to, he regrouped mentally, assessed the situation, then instructed his son to fetch his medic kit from his truck. Henry then instructed Karen and their son on what to get from his kit and how to bandage his head and face. 

Realizing this wasn’t life threatening but was indeed a severe trauma, Karen drove Henry to Willowbrook Methodist Hospital ER. It was there that ER staff realized it wasn't just Henry’s face that had been stuck by the weight, but his left eye. Not having an Ophthalmologist Surgeon on staff Henry was transferred via ambulance to Hermann Memorial Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. A trauma team of surgeons was assembled and the surgery was performed the next morning to stabilize his eye.

The Injury and a Hopeful Recovery Plan 
The injury to Henry’s left eye was as follows:
A laceration across the entire front of the eye from 8 to 2 o’clock resulting in destroying the lens, iris, and cornea. 10 stitches were required.
A laceration across the top of the eye from 12 o’clock all the way back just before the optic nerve. 25 stitches required.
A retina detachment and the optical floor fractured and displaced by 5 and 7 mm. Three lacerations across the face just below the eye.

Due to the severity of the trauma and the amount of blood in the eye there is no vision in Henry’s left eye.
 
Surgery #2 of 5+
 Henry returned to work after two weeks. He then had surgery #2 on June 3, 2019 in what was stated as a "Hail Mary attempt" by surgeons to reattach his retina and clean out the remaining blood within the eye. If the surgery is a success, it will lead to the process of rebuilding his eye and possibly restoring some vision. However, if the surgeons can not successfully reattach the retina the next steps will be towards a protected eye to restore facial symmetry.  The second surgery was a very difficult one. The doctors reattached what they could of the damaged retina. we will have to wait to know what vision that will give him. The post-op appointment the next day went well. The Doctor explained that the retina attachment wasn't perfect, but is looking hopeful. Only time will tell.  Either way, over the next 12-18 months Henry will be looking at a minimum of 5 additional surgeries. 

Medical Bills & Insurance 
Currently, his medical bills have totaled almost $100K. From what they can tell and in speaking with insurance, it's looking as though most of these hospital bills will be covered by insurance and Henry and Karen are monitoring this situation closely.  

His current employment does not have a short or long-term disability plan and he has only worked in full-time status at his current job since January 2019. That being said the Annual Leave and Sick hours accrued were used in full during the recovery of surgery #1. Each surgery will require a minimum of a 2-3 week recovery period before returning to work. This leaves Henry and Karen without approximately $24,000 in take-home pay and there some medical expenses and out-of-pocket expenses that are quickly adding up by the thousands. In addition, Henry is maintaining payments toward insurance premiums and child support totaling over $1000 monthly.  Henry currently has no vision in the injured left eye and is in a cycle of recovery where he must be face down for 10 or more days post-op, followed by extremely limited physical activity. 



HENRY E. DAVIS 
About Henry 
Henry E. Davis is a 48-year-old husband and father of four who is a Federal Agent working on the recovery efforts of Harris County, Texas from Hurricane Harvey. Before Harvey, Henry spent close to 20 years as an Art Director and Videographer in the Houston advertising community working alongside some of Houston’s greatest creatives. He worked on accounts such as Blue Bell, Compaq, Pennzoil Motorsports, and the Houston Chronicle. After the recession of 2008, Henry was tasked with accepting a different line of work. Having a personal interest in tech, specifically Apple he was recruited as a Certified Apple Technician and starting facilitating training classes for Houston area technicians employed by Apple Inc.

In May of 2016 Henry’s step-father, Gerald Blankenship was killed in an accident while cutting down a tree. Gerald had been a full-time Harris County Constable and in years prior had served as an EMT in Northeast Harris County. He was always involved in serving his community and country from his service in the US Navy after high school through his final days with us. As a tribute to his stepfather, Henry enrolled in an EMT course and continued that journey through much of a licensed paramedic course. 

After Hurricane Harvey struck and once Henry was certain his own family and home were secure and safe from flooding, he went out during the storm to assist with local evacuations in his community. Living in the Champion Forest area, they had floodwaters 8-10 feet deep at times and coursed through in an airboat.  They evacuated about 65 people that afternoon while his wife and daughter supplied hot drinks to comfort the survivors. In the coming weeks, Henry volunteered with his church and the American Red Cross to assist in mucking out flooded homes and in the recovery effort.

After returning to Apple, Henry received a call from a federal government recruiter in Washington DC about working for an agency to help with a long term mission towards recovery in the Harris County and surrounding areas. After much consideration, he was able to take a long term leave of absence from his duties at Apple and accept the position. For over a year now Henry has been working with a team comprised of engineers, architects, and various other infrastructure professionals to help rebuild the Houston area and mitigate for future natural disasters. 

Even though he was transitioned into a full-time role with his agency that status has only been since January 2019. Therefore his accumulated annual leave and sick time have not added up to much to-date and has already been used up during the recovery period after his accident and first surgery.




FAMILY 
Karen, Henry, and Family 
Henry is married to his childhood friend Karen. They both grew up in a small town Northeast of downtown Houston. The two lived about a mile apart separated by thick pine forest and dirt roads at the time. Henry and Karen knew one another since 6th grade, though when they graduated high school they went their separate ways. Karen got married and had a daughter and lived in the Clear Lake area for many years. Henry enlisted in the US Army and afterward enrolled in school to pursue a career in advertising and design.

Fast forward to 2005, when their paths crossed. They ran into one another in the downtown tunnel system on Houston, Texas and talked for briefly, maybe 5 minutes. In late 2008, after both had been divorced for a few years, Henry reached out to Karen; they discovered they worked just blocks from each other. After one eventful lunch, they started dating and in June of 2009, they were married in Big Bend National Park and joined their blended family of 3 girls and one boy. Today, their eldest, Elyssa, pursuing work in fitness and travel. Heike just graduated high school full honors is pursuing college. Heidi, their 16-year-old, and Erick, their 13-year-old will complete high school over the next 5 years. 

Henry and Karen live in the Spring, TX area now and love to spend their free time taking road trips with their children to Colorado and Utah for skiing, plus camping in Texas state parks and hiking the backcountry in Big Bend National Park.


YOUR SUPPORT 
Henry's family and friends have organized this fundraiser in order to offer support and alleviate the financial strain. The Davis's are making adjustments as a family as they come together to support Henry in his recovery over the next 12-18 months and 5+ surgeries . There is no way to forecast what the future will bring to Henry, Karen, and the kids but they remain optimistic and will be dedicating these funds to alleviating the out-of-pocket medical costs, unexpected costs related to care for Henry, as well as the loss of income throughout the recovery process. Any funds leftover will be evenly donated to their two chosen nonprofit organizations: Blind Veterans Association (http://www.bva.org/) and The Seeing Eye (http://seeingeye.org/).  Any level of your support is appreciated far beyond words. 

Thank you.