PEARLAND, Texas – A Pearland man is now trying to figure out where he’s going to lay his head at night after a fire destroyed his RV that he calls home.
Troy Davis lived in the RV parked outside his late mother’s home on Louise Lane. The house was damaged beyond repair during Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
On Friday morning, a fire started in the RV and eventually extended to the home, destroying both and nearly everything inside.
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A friend’s quick thinking saved his life
“I was out in the shop working,” Davis told KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding on Christmas Eve. “I’ve been a mechanic by trade for about 30 years. I was out there in a shop working on a go-cart that someone had brought me. He bought it for his kids for Christmas.”
While Troy was working away, it was his friend who noticed something was going on inside his RV.
“He asked me if I was cooking something,” Troy recalled. “And I told him, no. And he goes, ‘Well, there’s smoke pouring out your door.’”
His buddy went to check it out, but it was already too late.
“The living room was pretty engulfed,” Troy said.
Smoke was billowing into the air. Everything that Troy owns was burning right in front of his eyes.
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Fire spreads to the house left behind by Hurricane Harvey
The fire destroyed his RV in a matter of minutes. But the flames didn’t stop there.
Troy’s RV was getting power from his mom’s old house next door. That fire spread and destroyed the rest of the home that Hurricane Harvey left behind.
“When it started to shorten out, we were watching the fire fly out of the breaker box in it, then the side of the house caught on fire,” he said.
Troy’s struggles: From motorcycle accident to amputation
While his loss just days before Christmas is a tragedy, this isn’t his whole story.
You see, life has been knocking Troy down for nearly two decades.
In 2009, he was t-boned while riding his motorcycle. He spent a month in the hospital, years in a bed, and more than a decade in a wheelchair.
That is until last year.
“I ended up with infections in the leg. That and it never healed properly,” Troy said. “I became septic and was hours from dying. On the 17th of March, my orthopedic surgeon came in and removed the leg.”
Troy’s right leg was amputated.
Troy Davis: “I can honestly tell you was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Gage Goulding: “It’s kind of wild to hear someone saying, ‘Yeah, they took my leg as the best thing that ever happened to me.’”
Troy Davis: “When you’re in pain for 14.5 years and then two days after having that leg removed and that pain is gone.”
Last July he got a prosthetic leg at the hefty price tag of $33,000.
He was finally taking a step in the right direction, walking again for the first time in 15 years.
But that dream of escaping the wheelchair was cut short - yet again.
His leg was inside the RV that burned.
“That didn’t even sink in that that was in there,” he said.
Troy isn’t angry, or sad or even a scrooge.
Troy Davis: “That didn’t even sink in that that was in there. But, you know, each one of those things has, you know, strengthened me for whatever is to come next.”
Gage Goulding: “You look at this as a speed bump where some others might look at this as a mountain in the middle of the road.”
Troy Davis: “Hope to me, is a determination. It’s... I know that there’s always a better side to every situation.”
It’s a lesson we can all take from Troy’s playbook on life. No matter what curveball we’re thrown, if there’s a will, there’s always a way.
“If your mind is set on something, you can you can achieve anything and everything,” he said.
Troy’s family has organized a GoFundMe to help him out during this time. You can find that here.
