Curby
The sudden tragic death of a young Olympic brother is difficult to accept. It made me really think of a lot of things. Mortality. What really matters. Who really matters. I’ve been struggling with my health this past week and that has been an interesting thing I can compare the completeness of mortality. I didn’t know of Jacob’s passing right away because on the day it happened I began a 4 day trip to Oklahoma and my commitment there prevented me from hearing of the news until my return.
Jacob was living the dream and went out on a high. I man named Jim Rohn once said, “When death comes to find you do not let it find you a cripple in the valley but climbing up the next mountain top.” My condolences to the Curby family and his lady, Amy. And brothers, your loss I am sorry for. I know he was one of you from the ground up at USEOC. Spenser, Kerry, Ivan, and everyone else close to him included.
I just saw him a few weeks ago at the Olympic Training Center. He was bouncing around like a ball of energy. When I was 25 I was jumping around like that in that lobby. Jacob was a world class athlete. He was a full time Olympic hopeful. His sport was Greco-Roman Wrestling. He was reaching the top of the ladder to be number one. He returned to Boise Idaho from an exhausting training tour in Russia and in that exhaustion he had a Grand Maul Epileptic seizure and died from the shock in his weak state.
I know that exhaustion. And I know Epileptic seizures. I spent many years taking medication for Epilepsy. I began wrestling with the medical condition and managed it all through high school. It is a horrifying medical condition. You have not experienced being out of control until you have a full seizure. It changes your life. That could have been me. I had doctors warn me about that. I had doctors that said go for it too. Helen Keller said, “Life is short and unpredictable. Eat the desert first!”
Love your life and live your dream!