I am eating breakfast at David Banks and Kendrick Brinson’s new home in Atlanta on my way back from Greenwood, MS with LUCEO partner Tyler Strickland when Myles Little from BusinessWeek calls to ask how far I am from Raleigh, North Carolina. As luck would have it, we are on our way to Chapel Hill to participate in a UNC Photo Night, (which is a blast), putting us in easy reach of Raleigh the next morning. With Tyler as my assistant, we photograph Sgt. Cody Perkins, a former bodyguard to General Petraus, who has been wounded three times by roadside bombs. What stands to end his career is the DePuy hip replacement marketed by Johnson and Johnson that he had after his last injury. The replacement has failed him, and a number of other equally unfortunate people. Perkins is very easy to work with, open to suggestions and photographs well. After the shoot, weeks go by without any high-res request from the editors so I begin to think that the story has been tabled. Then Myles calls me up again, asking if I can fly to Eau Claire, Wisconsin and drive down to visit some folks in Medford. But of course.

Upon arrival at the Eau Claire airport, I drive an hour and a half to Medford, and then miles out of the city and down a gravel road to the home of Roger and Loretta “Frankie” Poulter, 53 and 55 respectively. Roger has been a teacher for years and together he and Frankie run a business out of their basement. The Poulters are active outdoorsmen who both received DePuy ASR XL hip replacements, which failed. Roger’s failure resulted in a series of complications including an infection that nearly cost him his life. Frankie’s new hip dislocated in the middle of the night as she slept and Roger had to drive her through a snowstorm to the hospital. They live in near constant pain but remain optimistic as they try to maintain their active and mostly self-sufficient lifestyle that includes hunting, and growing and canning fruits and vegetables. It takes a little while for them to become comfortable with me, but by lunchtime we are sitting over a meal of venison sausage, cheese and crackers at their kitchen table. It feels so familiar, so intimate. During lunch the phone rings and Roger answers, his face visibly falling and voice becoming somber as he is told that a family friend has just died. Despite this news combined with the life-altering pain this couple deals with on a daily basis, they are beyond hospitable. It never ceases to humble me, the way people can allow someone into their lives so quickly and completely. To find out more about these wonderful characters I met for this story, and to hear more about Johnson and Johnson’s recall woes you can read the fascinating and in-depth article by David Voreacos, Alex Nussbaum and Greg Farrell on the BusinessWeek website.   

Below is how it ran in BusinessWeek. A huge thanks to Myles for being a top-notch professional to work with. 

I am eating breakfast at David Banks and Kendrick Brinson's new home in Atlanta on my way back from Greenwood, MS with LUCEO partner Tyler Strickland when Myles Little from BusinessWeek calls to ask how far I am from Raleigh, North Carolina. As luck would have it, we are on our way to Chapel ...