Amputee’s social media videos inspiring others

Like many Jamaicans who take up job opportunities abroad, Kerry-Ann Davis hoped to secure a brighter future for her family back home. 
But instead of prosperity, she found tragedy, resulting in one of her arms being amputated.
“I left Jamaica when my last son was one year and three months. I just wanted to make life better for us, because I was in a very nasty relationship. I just wanted better for them,” she said.
Leaving her three children in the care of her mother, the St Mary native took a leap of faith and migrated to England. Every shift she worked, whether as a caregiver or office cleaner, was driven by the thought of giving her children a better life. But one morning in September 2004 changed everything. 
“I was standing at the bus stop when a truck came up on the pavement and hit the wall I was sitting on. I fell over and the wall collapsed on me,” Davis said with a loud sigh. “Everything changed.” The accident itself, she said, was devastating, but what followed proved even harder.
“I had the arm for six weeks. It became so infected and they had to amputate it, and that was just really rough. The arm used to pain me, it itch me,” she said, describing the pain as unbearbale at times. But the emotional burden weighed heavier. She was her family’s breadwinner; and now with a disability, Davis questioned her role.
“It was like if I couldn’t take care of my children, it made sense mi come a yard, so it was rough,” she said. She developed a crippling sense of guilt and became depressed, for which she needed anti-depressants. The trauma became so overwhelming that even stepping outside filled her with fear.
“I had to be taken out to walk, go shopping, constantly reassured that I won’t be hit again, because the moment I lay down I was having dreams of a vehicle running over me. It was just rough,” she said.
As therapy continued, Davis slowly began accepting the reality of life with one arm.
“All I could do was with my hands. I could do hair, I could sew, and my hand was taken away,” she said.
She told THE STAR that she also experienced phantom limb sensations, a condition in which the brain continues to perceive an amputated limb as though it were still there.
“For a while, it felt like I still had my hand. I could be brushing my teeth and I could feel every finger accepting the toothbrush, only for it to fall on the ground - and it would be back to reality. It was frustrating. I don’t know if it was the trauma, it was really frustrating,” she sighed.
Although she remained in England for several years after the accident, Davis said finding work became nearly impossible. Eventually, she returned to Jamaica in 2008 to rebuild her life alongside her children.
“When I came back to Jamaica it was still kind of rough, I had to get my children ready for school, I got help from my sister-in-law to iron. I was not used to washing without my arm because in England I had the washing machine, and now it’s back to what it was. So my children’s clothes at one point were piling up and I had to get help with the little I had,” she said.
Back home, she survived on the little money she had managed to save while waiting on compensation. When it finally arrived, she used it to fulfil a dream.
“I purchased a home for me and my children and started to make expansion to the little home. But the thing is, I know I couldn’t afford to pay a helper forever, so once my children were old enough to help themselves, I let the helper go because the money was trickling,” she said.
As her children grew older and became more independent, Davis realised that there were still everyday tasks she had to relearn on her own. The turning point, she said, came during one of her most vulnerable moments – when she found herself unable to hand-wash her own underwear. 
“From that mi seh, never again. In that moment, I cried. It really broke me down and I said no, I have to do more,” she said.
That promise to herself slowly became something much bigger, resulting in her commanding a place on TikTok. Her videos of navigating life with one arm have inspired thousands.
“I was lonely and bored and just went live one day. I was wrapping my verandah chair on the live and a gentleman came on the live in a wheelchair and shared his story, saying he just wants to walk again, and I have inspired him to push more,” she said.
Davis told THE STAR that she spends much of her time helping others in her community and online, with one clear message: you can rise from a disability. She related how persons marvel at how she navigates life with one arm.
“This one hand now can drive, mix cement. I make flower pots, I cook, I can ride, swim, everything,” she said. 
Davis said that mentally, she is in a better space, but joked that there is one thing she can’t do – comb her hair.
“I believe I am a pretty girl, but my hair is always all over the place and I can’t pay to do it all the time. So, just that sometime mi hair ‘mad’,” she said as she chuckled at herself.