Sidelined

If ever a person was in unfamiliar territory, it was Rocky Face resident Ken Davis.

From the day he could pick up a bat or shoot a basketball growing up in the Westside community, Davis has stayed active, playing one sport after the next. Traveling from one tournament after another, he played adult league basketball into his 30s and softball into his 40s. And he still found time to coach numerous youth teams, officiate flag football and work with the Tunnel Hill Recreation Department. He started playing golf about 10 years ago.

“We would leave for softball tournaments on Friday afternoon and come back late Sunday night, and they usually came back with a first or second place trophy,” said Ken’s wife, Vonda.

“We went everywhere from Tullahoma, Tenn., to Wilmington, N.C., everywhere,” added Ken. And then, two years ago, “everything came to a standstill,” said Vonda.

No more cycling classes at Bradley Wellness Center.

No more running through Tunnel Hill Park.

No more coaching his son Tanner’s church league basketball team.

Some days it was hard to walk to the end of the driveway to get the mail.

Working became difficult.

For the first time in his life, Ken, 51, found himself on the sideline.

‘I can’t do this’

“Seeing him suffer has been so hard,” said Vonda, “and not being able to coach and work and be involved and be active. I know he misses it all.”

In a two-year span beginning in 2009, Ken visited numerous doctors in Dalton and Atlanta, trying to diagnose what started out as an upset stomach. Since then, he’s had numerous procedures, his stomach removed, and he is now battling end stage liver disease and awaiting a liver transplant.

“I just started getting sick to my stomach and it just got worse and worse,” Ken said. “I was going to the doctor and they just kept telling me to stick with the medicines and that it would take some time but that I would get better. So we kept doing that and I just kept getting worse. I was thinking maybe I had just eaten something that didn’t agree with me, but it just kept getting worse.”

By the time flag football season rolled around in 2010, Ken knew he was unable to keep up with his usual activities.

“I was officiating a flag football game with Mike Roper and Mike Shaw and I just told them, ‘I can’t do this,’” said Davis, who called games for 27 years. “I was still doing the cycling at Bradley Wellness Center, and some days I would get dressed and ready to go and just not go. My energy level just wasn’t there.”

Davis continued to be nauseated and noticed more and more swelling in his legs. His energy continued to drop. While the doctors weren’t sure at the time, Vonda had her suspicions.

“I kept saying it was his liver,” she said. “All of the symptoms he was having, they were all symptoms that could be caused by the liver.”

As the doctors continued to search for answers, polyps were found in Ken’s stomach. With some of them pre-cancerous, the possibility of removing his stomach began to be discussed. While the doctors continued to treat the polyps and ulcers throughout 2010 and into last year, there also was a growing concern about Ken’s liver. But first the stomach had to be removed.

“There was just no choice,” Ken said. “There was no cure and no real treatment for the polyps, and because there were so many of them, they couldn’t use lasers on them. The doctor said I would have bled to death before they ever finished.”

“We had to have it done,” added Vonda.

Brick walls

A talented athlete growing up and a “peacekeeper” while playing adult softball and basketball, according to Vonda, Ken was now fighting some very different battles.

He now weighs about 160 pounds. Before the surgery, he was between 220 and 240, depending on the amount of swelling on any given day. He came through the stomach surgery OK and returned to his job as a supervisor at Marketing Alliance the week of Thanksgiving. At the time, there was plenty of reason to hope.

“But we just keep hitting brick walls,” said Vonda. “We go from one thing to the next.”

After feeling good initially, by the week after Thanksgiving Ken found himself sick again and back at the doctor. He was treated for dehydration and had a stent put into his liver to improve the blood flow.

Because his liver was not functioning properly, he became confused, had dizzy spells and was having trouble making it through the day at work. His stomach issues have been equally challenging, trying to find the right foods to eat and correct portion size.

“Some days are better than others,” he said. “Some days I eat a good bit and some days I’m just eating a few crackers. Sometimes something will do down well and then a few days later I’ll eat the same thing and it won’t go well.”

The week before Christmas, Ken and Vonda were back in the hospital in Dalton, as his liver enzyme levels were “crazy high,” according to Vonda.

Then, after Christmas, Ken and Vonda were back in Atlanta at Emory Hospital, where his stomach had been removed. The Davis family got the toughest news yet.

“The doctors told us I couldn’t work anymore and would have to be put on disability,” Ken said. “That was the hardest day, not being able to provide for my family and putting them through all of this.”

On their way back from Atlanta, Ken and Vonda stopped by Marketing Alliance, where Ken had worked for the past 16 years.

“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, was turning in my key,” he said. “I worked with a lot of good people there, and I tried to be fair. I never asked anyone to do anything that I wouldn’t do. I really miss not being able to work.”

Prior to Marketing Alliance, Ken worked 17 years at Brown Printing.

“I’ve been running presses all my life,” he said.

Not alone

Seeing Ken through every step has been Vonda, who he met in the seventh grade at Westside. It was love at first sight, at least for Vonda.

“I always tell people I fell in love with him in the seventh grade, but he didn’t fall in love with me until the 10th grade,” she said. “I have a notebook where I wrote, ‘I’m going to marry Ken Davis,’ so I guess I knew before he did.”

The two have been married for 28 years. Ken and Vonda can’t say enough about their friends and family.

“I don’t know where we’d be without our friends and family,” Vonda said. “I know we can count on them. They have all been so special and comforting for us. We know that we aren’t fighting this alone.”

One person who knows firsthand Ken’s gift as a coach is niece Shanna Gentry.

“Ken coached me from the time I started playing basketball and coached me all the way through,” she said. “My mom and dad were actually my coaches when I first started playing, but Ken was always coaching me. When my parents would call timeout, the players would go to them and I would go talk to Ken. That’s just the way it was.”

Ken and Vonda followed Shanna throughout her career at Northwest, even making frequent trips to Atlanta when the Lady Bruins moved up to Class AAAA.

“I don’t think Ken even really knows what an impact he has had on so many people,” Shanna said. “Whenever I run into an old teammate, anyone who knows him, they always ask how he’s doing. He was coaching and helping out at the rec before he had kids, and then later, even after Tanner was finished playing. Even after he started getting sick, he was still trying to come by and see my son Brady play and help me with the coaching.”

A special person

Of all the things Ken can’t do, he misses coaching most of all.

“I was a youth coach on and off for 30 years,” Ken said. “Watching the kids grow up and seeing them play through high school, that was the most rewarding thing.”

Also lending support has been lifelong friend Mike Roper. Roper has played softball and basketball with Ken, officiated flag football with him, and has known him since they grew up neighbors behind Westside Middle School.

“Ken is a really special person and he’d do anything for anyone,” Roper said. “We’ve known each other a long time. I was in his wedding and he was in mine, so that tells you what kind of friends we are. And when his mom passed away, I went to the funeral, and he was with me when my mom passed away. Our families have always been close.”

Roper missed having his partner this past year during the flag football season.

“We’ve been doing flag football together for 15 years and I sure missed him this year,” he said. “He’s done a lot for this community and the youth.

“Now when he’s feeling good, he can be pretty aggravating, and on our golf trips he’ll let me have it, but that just lets you know he’s feeling good and I think we’ve all missed that. We all hate for him to be feeling this way and hopefully he’ll get to feeling good soon.”

Another longtime friend is Danny Logan.

“Ken’s a prankster, and he’s a lot of fun. But he knows when you’re down and he’s always there to pick you back up,” said Logan, who worked with Ken at Brown and Marketing Alliance. “The thing that really stands out to me about Ken is his leadership and that his family comes first. He’s been such a good father figure to so many while coaching them. He really knows how to carry himself on and off the field.”

For now, Ken, Vonda and Tanner, who is a senior at Northwest, are playing the waiting game.

They are waiting on a call from Atlanta for a possible transplant. And they are waiting on news on if Ken’s disability has been approved, with April being the earliest that could happen.

There is one thing for sure, help is on the way.

Friends of Ken

A “Friends of Ken” campaign has been started, with numerous benefits in the works to help with the financial burden of Ken’s sickness. The slogan is “We’re Gonna Love You Through It.”

On Saturday, Feb. 4, from 5 p.m. until closing, the Oakwood Café will donate a portion of its proceeds to Ken and his family.

Then, on Saturday, Feb. 25, there will be a benefit singing at Salem Baptist Church in Rocky Face. The event will include barbecue plates starting at 5 p.m. At 6 p.m. there will be performances by the Salem Baptist Church Choir, The Singing Queens, Drive and The Burns Family. A silent auction will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The benefit is sponsored by Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial Chapter 16642, who will be matching proceeds up to $2,500.

On Saturday, March 17, there will be a pancake breakfast at LongHorn Steakhouse on Walnut Avenue.

For more information regarding the Friends of Ken benefits, please contact Conda Little at (706) 463-3390.

For now, Ken and Vonda are staying positive.

God has a plan

“This could happen to anyone, “ Ken said, “no matter what shape you’re in. It can happen overnight. This has really changed our lives. But God has a plan for all of us. I don’t know what it is yet, but we’re going to find out. I hope that when I come through this I can help others who are battling the same kind of things and help them with whatever the need.”

“If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything,” added Vonda. “Ken has gone from being so active and playing ball and running, and that all changed in a short time. He had been healthy his entire life until two years ago. I know that Ken would be out there helping others if he could.”

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After years of playing sports, officiating and coaching, Ken Davis' life has come to a 'standstill'

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