Kaleb Morgan Curtis
Our names are Brandon and April Curtis; we live in Graham, NC. We
were living a life that many would love to have. We have 2 beautiful
boys Kaleb 3 1⁄2 years old and Zyan 8 years old.
On August 24, 2007 our son Kaleb was riding on an atv with a family
member. They made a u-turn and went off a 3 foot embankment. The ATV
flipped and landed on our precious child. He died instantly of blunt
force head trauma.
One second and he was gone.
Kaleb was a joy to everyone that knew him. He loved his big brother
and his big brother adored him. I can not even explain the emotion that
fills me as I try to think of words to describe his smile. He made himself
the bright light of everyday. He had such an imagination. Zyan would
often ask us in the middle of a deep laugh “how does he think
of this stuff” or “how did he get so funny!”
Each night after the children were in bed my husband and I would tell
each other the funny and intelligent things that Kaleb had done or said
that day. I could go on for forever sharing all of the touching hilarious
gifts we were given when we were blessed with this little boy.
Now at night we have no new stories to share. We share our tears and
heartache. We hurt so deeply. We sit and talk of how we miss him. We
will never have one day the rest of our lives that wouldn’t have
been better if he was with us.
My husband was raised around 4-wheelers and dirt bikes. It was a way
of life and a source of fun for the family. I was terrified of them
but was on many occasions reassured that “nothing would happen
to the children in care of the adults”. I was told that “they
were fine”. I felt like the outsider so when the ATV motor started
I went indoors with my nauseated feeling. I should have stood up and
refused to allow my children to ride. I wish that I had known the alarming
numbers of deaths and injuries caused by these machines. It is sad that
statistics are just numbers until your child is one of those numbers.
There must be a greater awareness, so that another family does not suffer
this incredible pain. People often think that you can’t guard
your children from everything and that they need to have fun. There
are fun things to do, things other than riding ATV’s. It is too
much of a risk, our children are too precious.
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