Karla Henry: Still haunted by stabbing trauma

CEBU, Philippines - In her first public event appearance since having been stabbed by a drunk stranger in a random daylight crime in Manila, Cebuana beauty queen Karla Henry was back to her bubbly, stunning --- and noticeably slimmed down --- self when she sat as one among four judges during the recent Miss Press Freedom 2011 held at the Formo restaurant and lounge of Banilad Town Center.

Clad in a racerback top and denim cut-offs, her countenance belied the earlier ordeal she went through and an ongoing trauma she continues to bear.

The 25-year-old was confined in a hospital for seven days following the unfortunate August 11 incident that made national metro pages and primetime news. A week and a half since it happened, she came home to Cebu to recuperate in the company of supportive loved ones, and is trying to take her mind off the episode by keeping busy with business projects.

Wrong place, wrong time

The Miss Earth 2008 title-holder, who has the distinction of being the first Filipina and first in the Asian region to clinch the prestigious international crown, recounts that she had not been out with pals for the longest time. That night, they laid on the guilt thick, and convinced her for a night out at the capital hotspot Republiq to celebrate another friend’s arrival in Manila.

“I really didn’t want to, but they were telling me I’m never out with them lately since I’ve been in Cebu a lot. My roommates have even been joking that I’ve become such an old lady already since I never go out anymore. Priorities really change. Especially that I just started a new relationship and it’s long-distance. When I finally did go out, this was what happened,” she related. 

At around 6 a.m., she had just parked her car and was about to get into the elevator of her building at the California Gardens Square condominium in Mandaluyong City. Suddenly, she felt pain in her back. Karla turned around to see a man holding a shard of broken beer bottle.

“He followed me and when I turned around, he was in my face already. That’s when I think he really stabbed me. But I didn’t feel it immediately because of the adrenaline rush. Within seconds after that, he pushed me to the wall. There was blood on the wall, since my back was against it when I was collapsing. When I collapsed, that’s when it crossed my mind, ‘What did he do to my back? There was something wrong with my back.’ And then I felt the blood.”

She continued, “After he attacked me, he ran up one flight of stairs. Then he stopped and he looked at me. It was really freaky, like there was something mentally wrong with him. He just stopped and was just looking at me. Meanwhile, I’m on the floor with blood on my hands, realizing that something happened to my back. I was staring at him and we were even eye-to-eye. I screamed at the top of my lungs. People in the other building even heard me, that was how loud I screamed. When I managed to get up and walked down the stairs, a security guard was coming my way. They got to me before I reached the lobby.”

Karla was then rushed to the Victor R. Potenciano Medical Center, but was later transferred to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City, Taguig.

“I was brought to a very bad hospital at first. It was horrible! It took forty minutes before the doctor came to see me and all that time I was bleeding internally. I was also bleeding externally because they didn’t do anything to the wound, not even put gauze on it. Horrible, horrible hospital! I don’t know how people could survive there,” she lamented.

“I was transferred to St. Luke’s at The Fort and they were amazing. Grabe siya kanindot. Within thirty minutes, I was already in the operating room. You see the difference?”

According to Karla, her lungs were slightly punctured, so doctors inserted a tube into the space between her lung and chest wall to ease her breathing problems. “It still hurts at the back. My doctors have told me to take it easy, like, definitely no exercising. I can go out, but just make sure I don’t drink because I’m still on medication. The wound has healed. There’s a bump on it, but the stitches are no longer visible. Inside, that’s where it’s still healing. The doctors said that the muscles and veins were actually ruptured, so that’s what needs to heal.”

The half-Canadian’s perpetrator was later on identified as 29-year-old Jherome Quibuyen. Karla positively identified the suspect, while security personnel at the condo also attested to the resemblance between Quibuyen and the man seen attacking her in a CCTV footage. Quibuyen was arrested and charged with frustrated murder, the pre-trial of which happened last September 29 --- the first time Karla came face to face with the accused after the incident.

“It was really random. He was not a stalker. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The aftermath

While she can take the physical pain, Karla tells The FREEMAN it’s the constant fear that’s harder to overcome. When outdoors, it has become a knee-jerk movement to snap her head around and look behind her to check if danger lurks.

“Emotionally, I think, is the aspect that’s hard for me now. I’m very good at distracting myself, so I try to do as much as I can. But sometimes, it’s always at the back of my mind. I can’t go anywhere without getting paranoid. The paranoia has intensified by a hundred percent. I’m always looking behind my back. I even joke to my friends, ‘Maayo pa gidunggab na lang ko sa atubangan kay kapoy kaayo mag sige tan-aw sa akong likod.’ Physical injuries --- two months tops, they’re healed. The trauma of it all is really what gets to you in the end.”

Her condo unit used to be her haven. It was a symbol of her hard work and of a goal fulfilled. She used to be able to spend a week in her pad without going out. But since then, she couldn’t even last for five hours inside. She double-locks her doors now, something she never bothered with before.

Karla shares, “It felt completely different to go back there. Every time I used to go home to my apartment, I’d feel so happy because it was a place I wanted and worked for so long to have. I was always at peace at my place. When I went back, I was so itching to get out. Again, it’s not the physical injuries that will get me. It’s really the psychological impact.”

Asked how cheating death has changed her, she answered, “I don’t really know because I think it’s too early to tell. It would be fake for me to say that it made me stronger, because it really hasn’t at this stage. It has probably made me a person who would much rather stay at home now than go out. I don’t know yet what other changes it has brought out in me. Hopefully, these will be positive changes because if not, that would be more terrible.”

One thing she does know is how overwhelmed and grateful she is for the outpouring of prayers and well-wishes even from people she didn’t personally know. She credits the love for helping her get better.

“My friends, my boyfriend and parents have been amazing. If I didn’t have any of them, I’d probably be in a mental hospital right now. I’m not in good terms with my mom, but that time she came through for me. Everybody was incredible. The prayers and messages on Twitter were amazing. People I didn’t know reached out and told me they hoped I get well and they were praying for me.”

Earth ambassadress, now event planner

Keeping her occupied these days is the new events company called Wicked Sisters, a collaboration with her beauty queen friends Bb. Pilipinas-World 2007 Anna Maris Igpit, Miss Cebu 2008 Sian Maynard, together with ballet dancer Amanda Ong-Vaño.

The ladies decided to put their creativity and exposure to numerous events to good use by starting up an events/wedding planning business of their own. Currently, they are working on a big project to celebrate the tenth year anniversary of a home-grown coffee shop brand.

Born in Bataan, Karla has lived in Canada and Bicol for a time, but has permanently made Cebu her home since. She went to Camp Lapulapu National High School, then attended college at the University of Cebu where she earned a Tourism degree.

Then one of Cebu’s sought-after models, she became Miss Cebu second runner-up in 2007. She tried her luck at the Bb. Pilipinas 2008 pageant but failed to place. Karla was employed at Marco Polo Hotel when she joined Miss Philippines-Earth, and the rest, as we know, is history.

Beyond her reign, the articulate beauty continues to actively advocate for environmental causes. Through Miss Earth Foundation’s I Love My Planet Earth School Tour, she has visited schools and communities all over the country, teaching kids about the environment through games, songs, storytelling, and tree-planting activities. (FREEMAN)