"He Did Everything"

It is difficult to believe that someone can simply disappear from life through a simple accident.  Particularly the young, the energetic young people who engage in sport activity, who enjoy life and leave the indelible impression among their peers that this is a singular individual of great merit and personal charm.  Someone who makes it evident that he cares deeply for the welfare of others.

Smiths Falls is in mourning for an 18-year-old high school student.  His death earlier in the week shocked his community and dreadfully grieved his fellow students at Smiths Falls District Collegiate Institute.  His family is left to remember their youngest son and brother whose enthusiasm for life was irrepressible. 

What occurred with Josiah Grant, seems to happen in similar vein all too often to young people.

Young people who seem to be in physical shape, and who enjoy challenging themselves physically.  And who somehow, come afoul of Dame Fortune.  Who can imagine someone in their late teens suddenly - with no prior medical history - suffering a fatal heart attack?  In Josiah Grant's experience it was something else.  He was part of a high jump practice that went dreadfully awry for him.

He simply jumped too far beyond a safety pad.  And ended up landing on his neck and shoulders.  It was only as a precaution that he was taken to a local hospital, conscious of everything around him.  He even telephoned his father to inform him he was at the emergency department of the hospital, with a headache.  A responsible son, concerned his parents would worry when he was late coming home.

Concerned perhaps because their son's physical self was compromised by a dreadful illness; cystic fibrosis.  The doctors who assessed Josiah at the Smiths Falls hospital felt he had suffered a concussion, but that there was no neural damage they could detect.  But it was decided to transfer him by ambulance to Kingston.  That evening his condition was aggravated, and his deterioration continued overnight.

Taken into an operating room, doctors informed his father, Gary Grant, that his son Josiah was unlikely to survive.  That dread prognosis did not fully enter his parents' consciousness.  They were unable to fully appreciate that potential, thinking the boy might be "in a coma for a few weeks and then he would come back and wake up.  I figured the doctors were maybe being negative with us", his father explained.

But he did not recover, he failed to survive his innocent-enough-appearing experience.  An accident on the gym floor of his high school.  A horrifying conclusion to a school day.

"He was just a really kind, thoughtful kid", his father said.  "He loved sports.  He was active, and he was never the absolute best at everything (but) he did everything."