''Worse than any backache I've ever had, combined,'' recalls Davis.
A chiropractor's adjustment didn't help. Neither did a friend's massage. Three days after the first symptoms Davis began feeling a tingling sensation below her waist. Her walk slowed.
A day later Davis grabbed the walls at her Lodi, CA, home while staggering to the bathroom. When she woke up later that morning Davis tried standing, only to stumble to the floor. She slid downstairs on her bottom.
The date: Dec. 31, 2005. At midnight, as Davis was transported to a hospital, an ambulance driver blasted the siren so she might celebrate New Year's Eve. Davis, now 25, has not walked a step since.
The condition is called cavernous hemangioma, a collection of abnormal blood vessels found primarily in the brain and spinal cord. In layman's terms, one of Davis' blood vessels erupted, causing nine inches of her spinal cord to inflame. She's paralyzed from the navel down.
Sandwiched between an older and younger brother, Davis fit the tomboy image.
"I grew up in the country," she says, "riding dirt bikes and climbing trees."
She played varsity volleyball, basketball, and softball at Lodi Academy. The private school offered a girls flag football team and Davis, the team's most valuable player, scored 48 touchdowns as a senior.
During a 2 1/2-hour visit at the Davises' Carlsbad home - where mother and daughter moved to a mobile-home park in January to be closer to her rehab facility - the only time Davis' mother cried was when talking about Erica's athleticism. (Davis' father works in Lodi, where he owns a real estate company. He commutes to Carlsbad two to three times a month.)
"Her whole life was sports," says Carol Davis. "And so my tears were for what she couldn't do or might not be able to do."
Davis comes equipped with a dry, deadpan wit. When told the severity of her condition, she thought of her cousin, Ray Brown, who was born with brittle bone disease and lives in a motorized wheelchair.
"Well," Erica said, "cousin Ray and I will be able to race in our wheelchairs."
As would be expected, there have been valleys. A metal filter was inserted down Davis' neck and into a main artery to prevent blood clots from forming in her legs. It was supposed to be temporary, but medical personnel were later unable to remove the filter. The artery had grown around the filter, which still has not been removed. The Davises say doctors don't know the long-term effects of the situation.
During a heart-to-heart, mother-daughter talk soon after the incident, Erica told her mother, "I don't know why any guy would want to date me."
Later, Erica said, "Mom, don't ever leave the medications down where I could get them."
Six months after becoming paralyzed, Davis, pushing a wheelchair, entered an 8-kilometer race in Sacramento, CA. She had butterflies.
"Like before you go up to bat or before you see somebody you love," she says.
In October last year, Davis participated in the Challenged Athletes Foundation's San Diego Triathlon Challenge, pushing her wheelchair for the 13.1-mile run. Her relay-team swimmer: Olympian Amanda Beard. Davis asked Robin Williams to sit on her lap for a picture. The sometimes ribald Williams obliged, saying, "That's the most fun I've had all day."
Using a handcycle, Davis participated in the Redlands Bicycle Classic in March and won every lap in the women's handcycle class, earning $625. In May, she weathered rugged surf and, while unable to complete the swim course, she finished the Encinitas Triathlon. Last month, she completed her second triathlon, the Solana Beach Triathlon, which included a quarter-mile swim.
"I've never heard one word of pity from her," said Kate Major of Rancho Sante Fe, CA, one of the world's best Ironman triathletes, who has become a friend of Davis'. "With her attitude, just the desire, her will, she's amazing to be around."
Like any athlete, in her youth Davis dreamed of the Olympics, maybe as a swimmer or softball player. She knew the odds were long.
"Being in a chair, now I have a much better chance of being in the Paralympics," Davis admits. "Maybe this is the Olympics I'm supposed to be in."
Her biggest goal: On the second Saturday in October 2009, becoming the first paralyzed woman to finish Ironman Hawaii.
Since undergoing therapy the past 7 1/2 months at Awakenings Health Institute in Solana Beach, CA, which specializes in spinal-cord rehabilitation, Davis has shown improvement. She can crawl from one side of a room to another with a little assistance. She has regained some feeling below her waist. With some assistance, she can stand for three minutes.
Davis rehabs at the facility five days a week, 13 hours a week. The cost, which is not covered by insurance, is $4,000 a month.
Since becoming paralyzed, Davis has steadfastly believed she will walk again.
"I just know I will," she says. "There's never been a thought of anything else."
Recently, Davis told her mother that if she could go back and erase the past, she wouldn't.
"I know (because of the paralysis) I'm becoming a better person," she says.
After the Solana Beach Triathlon last month, Davis was sitting in her chair in the transition area when a woman approached. With tears in her eyes, the woman, an able-bodied athlete who raced that day, thanked Davis.
"Thank you for being such an inspiration," the woman said.
Davis appreciated the gesture. But in a way, she felt a bit peculiar.
"Me," says Davis, "I'm just living."
To learn more about Erica Davis, log on to www.helpericawalk.com. The site allows visitors to shop for everything from food to entertainment to clothing. A small percentage of the online purchases goes toward Erica's rehabilitation.
