By Julia Train
On Thursday, July 25, Egg Harbor Township residents saw a police procession traveling down Ocean Heights Avenue and wondered about what was going on.
That cavalcade was welcoming EHT resident Emily Davis, 15, home after she spent about three months in the hospital following an accident where she was struck by a tow truck while riding her bike.
On May 8, Emily was bicycling on Ocean Heights Avenue with her brother and a family friend when she fell off her bike and into the path of a tow truck.
After the accident, Emily was transported to a local hospital and then transferred via helicopter to Cooper Medical Center due to the extent of her injuries—which included broken legs, fractured pelvis and collapsed lungs, among others.
During her stay in the hospital, Emily remained in critical condition in the pediatric intensive care unit where she had to endure multiple blood transfusions and surgeries to stabilize her condition.
The procedures included vascular surgery to repair her femoral artery and blood flow to her leg, intestinal removal with reattachment and repairing her pelvis with the aid of plates and screws.
Sarah Harrison, a friend of the Davis Family, organized a GoFundMe on behalf of Danielle Davis for Emily’s recovery.
“It goes without saying that both Emily’s parents, Danielle and Jerry, have put life on hold to be with Emily and provide comfort to Emily’s brothers, Dylan and Jake, during this time,” wrote Harrison on the GoFundMe page. “The blessing is [that] testing has shown Emily’s brain function remains intact.”
On June 13, Danielle Davis posted an update, thanking the donors for their generosity.
Emily’s breathing and stomach tubes were removed and she remained in the trauma ICU until being discharged into an inpatient rehabilitation facility.
Two weeks before, Emily had to have her right leg amputated despite every effort to preserve it, in order to save her life.
After removal, the doctors were able to find the source of an infection she had been fighting behind her leg in her pelvis.
“They would not have found it otherwise,” Emily’s mother wrote. “Since the amputation she has been steadily improving, (we say this cautiously as the last five weeks has been quite a roller coaster ride).”
On July 25, Emily was welcomed home with a police procession that started at the hospital and ended at her house.
Family, friends and first responders, including Atlantic City K9 Officer Michael Braxton, welcomed her home. Braxton lost his leg in a motorcycle accident in June 2013 and is the first ever amputee to be an active police officer.
There were signs in her front lawn, with welcome home and “get better” messages from local officers. EHT emergency medical technicians greeted and clapped for Emily as she was pushed in her wheelchair down the sidewalk along the front of her house.
As of Tuesday, July 30, the GoFundMe has raised $23,718 of the $40,000 goal. It can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-emily-daviss-road-to-recovery
Julia is a student at Rider University, majoring in multiplatform journalism with a minor in social media strategies. At school, she writes and is news editor for The Rider News and is the News Director for the radio station, producing news updates. She’ll be graduating in the spring. Connect with her on Instagram @juliatrain
