I hate writing these, but this one needs a spot.
The weird thing about this story is before about mid March, I had never heard of Nehemiah. Apparently, I had been living under a rock because most people I knew, whether they were tech people, guide dog people, NFB people, newly blind people, or anyone else who might have something to do with blindness seemed to know and love this guy. As soon as the campaign was created, I was bombarded with it. Not only that, but I started seeing tributes to him by people who had met him in all kinds of contexts from guide dog school to Colorado Center for the Blind to online forums. And before I knew it, I started to feel like If I didn’t know him, I should have.
Sadly, the reason for all the tributes was because he had developed yet another brain tumour, only this one was inoperable and would kill him. He has apparently struggled with cancer since he was a child, and at 29, it finally won. His friends wanted to raise the money to pay off his medical bills and take care of his funeral. They set a goal of $8000, and if there’s any happiness, they succeeded in reaching it.
I have just learned that he passed away Thursday night. I wanted to write about this before he was gone, but now all that’s left to do is mention his passing. It sounds like he was quite the smart, funny, kind guy, and I missed out on knowing a very special person. Even though I don’t know his family, I will think of them.