Candice Davis initially found her first pregnancy to be quite smooth. Regular check-ups went well, and she experienced minimal symptoms—at least until June 14, 2025, just 11 days before she was due.
The day began like any other, but as time passed, Davis started feeling nauseous while relaxing by her pool. Soon after, that nausea escalated into upper abdominal pain. Her husband insisted she go to the hospital, which she was reluctant to do. Working as a recruiter for an OB-GYN, she felt confident that she could recognize when things were really amiss. However, after being urged by her friend, Dr. Susan Passarella, an OB-GYN, she decided to comply.
At the obstetric emergency department in Baptist Hospital, located in Pensacola, Florida, tests revealed heightened blood pressure levels. The medical team opted to keep her for the night, and that’s when her condition deteriorated rapidly.
The pain intensified. Blood pressure continued to rise, and her liver enzymes were alarmingly elevated. Within two hours of her admission, the medical team proposed inducing labor. Davis had wished for a natural birth, but, as she described, “everything kept getting worse,” leading to a decision to perform a cesarean section.
“Thank goodness we did,” she reflected. “I was in so much pain, and although they gave me an epidural, it barely helped. I remember feeling scared and physically unable to deliver my son naturally. I couldn’t even sit up. It was just overwhelming.”
A C-section and critical complications
Davis was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome, a rare pregnancy complication linked to preeclampsia, affecting the liver and leading to potential rapid bleeding. Preeclampsia occurs in about 5% to 8% of pregnancies, but HELLP syndrome is much rarer, affecting only 0.01% to 0.06% of cases, according to Passarella. Generally, patients recover after delivery.
Though Davis’s son was safely delivered via C-section, the delivery revealed that his position had been exerting pressure on a significant injury—17 centimeters—in her liver. Following the delivery, her liver began to bleed, and it just wouldn’t stop.
“When they took out my son, they initially said, ‘Oh, there’s no blood. This is a good sign,'” Davis shared. “But just seconds later, it shifted to, ‘Oh no, there’s a lot of blood.’ The anesthesiologist came in, placed a mask over my face, and warned, ‘We need to put you out now.’
Thanks to her elevated liver enzyme levels, the surgical team was ready for the situation. A surgeon was available, and the C-section had been performed in a manner that allowed easy access to her liver, if necessary.
However, the bleeding continued uncontrollably. Davis became too unstable for any further surgery, necessitating the doctors to pack her body with sterile materials and wait overnight for her to stabilize. She was unable to breathe independently. Passarella, who stayed informed through Davis’s husband, was worried her friend might not wake up.
“It felt like one crisis after another,” Passarella said, recalling her experience treating similar cases. “He asked me, ‘Will she survive this?’ Honestly, I had no idea.”
“Something I’ll never forget”
After around 24 hours, doctors finally managed to stop the bleeding. The next day, Davis began to breathe on her own and gradually regained consciousness. Her first clear memory of the experience was two days later when her 4-day-old son was placed on her chest in the intensive care unit.
“I still had high blood pressure, and Camden was crying,” Davis remembered. “I heard my sister say, ‘He stopped crying when he got on her chest, and her blood pressure started dropping.’ That’s a moment I will never forget.”
Yet, she was still facing challenges. Blood clots developed in her left hand, and due to the risk of liver bleeding, she couldn’t take blood thinners. Doctors implemented topical treatments and even attempted hyperbaric oxygen therapy, but ultimately, Davis lost her thumb and part of the other four fingers on her left hand.
Over the following weeks, she underwent six surgeries to address the damaged tissue, followed by intensive rehabilitation to relearn how to use her hand.
Adapting to these changes while caring for a newborn proved to be quite the challenge, even with the support of her husband and family. She expressed that, “Everything I had planned just went out the window. I had to navigate a whole new process. I couldn’t change his diaper alone, and I’d need help feeding him. Just changing his clothes was difficult for me.”
Finding a new way forward
A year after her son’s birth, Davis and her family have created a new routine. She mentioned being pleasantly surprised by her rapid recovery, saying she’s now capable of “all the things,” including taking care of her son independently. Utilizing adaptive devices, such as a prosthetic thumb, has helped her adjust both at work and in the gym.
Her family even enjoyed a relaxing summer at the beach. They had initially thought about traveling to mark her son’s first birthday but opted for a low-key celebration, with Davis adding humorously how different it was from the previous year. She is also gearing up to compete in a relay race with Passarella in the fall.
Davis hopes that sharing her story will inspire other women to be vigilant about their health during pregnancy.
“A healthy pregnancy is wonderful, but it’s critical not to take it for granted,” she emphasized. “Listening to your body is vital. If something feels off, seek help. Don’t assume everything is fine just because it feels like a common pregnancy symptom.”
