Although Curt Brinkman is in a wheelchair, he has had a successful career as a businessman, athlete, and motivational speaker. He is a five-time Paralympic Gold Medallist and a two-time World Marathon Record Holder.
Tell us about your background.
I grew up in Shelly, Idaho, a small farming community. My parents were both teachers. I started working on a farm when I was six. I drove trucks and threw bails of hay in a hay field. I wanted to be a farmer until I was probably 13 or 14 years old. When I was 16 I wanted to be a professional basketball player. At six feet and seven inches at the age of sixteen I felt I could grow a little bit more. The New York Knicks were the world champions then in 1969 and 1970; Willis Reed was the center and Walt Frazier, Dave Debusher, and Ray Bradley were on the team also. It was something I wanted to do.
How did you end up in a wheelchair?
Things changed drastically. I was on a farm working and climbed up on top of a power pole. Why I was up there is anybody’s guess, including my own. As I was standing up there, the electricity jumped about a foot from one of the wires to my knees. It was as if somebody took a couple of pieces of dynamite, put one on each one of my legs, and pushed the plunger. There was a literal explosion as the electricity entered my body and exited. It hit me a second time and a third time. After the third time, the circuit breaker power shut off and when that happened the doctor said my heart stopped.
The electrician who investigated afterwards also said that undoubtedly my heart stopped. When my heart stopped, my body relaxed and I let go of the hold that I had on the pole. I fell 25 feet to the ground and landed on my chest, which started my heart again. I am very fortunate to be alive. At the time I probably didn’t think so, but now life is exciting and a thrill. It has been 34 1/2 years since that time and I’ve had a fun life.
I have had a lot of difficulties including having diabetes for the last 25 years. I have to take insulin injections four to five times a day, depending on how I am doing. I am a brittle diabetic so my blood sugars fluctuate greatly, which means that I am in worse health than most people who have diabetes. I also had kidney damage and liver damage. I’ve had about 45 surgeries, some of them as a result of the accident and others as a result of gall bladder removal and surgeries on my hands. I’ve had nine surgeries on my right hand and seven on my left. So I’ve had all kinds of experiences physically, but I still bounce back. I spent five months in the hospital because of the nature of my accident and the burns and how they affected my body. There was internal damage as well. I was flown from Idaho to Salt Lake and spent five months in the LDS hospital in Salt Lake.
When I went home I was not super excited, but I had a handful of friends that made a big difference in my life and helped me realize that I could still do things. I started playing basketball with them out on my driveway. They would go out and scoop the snow and we would go out and play basketball.
I came to realize that I could still do things even though I didn’t have my legs anymore. As a result of the accident, both of my legs were amputated about thirteen inches above the knees, so I have just a few inches of stump on each side.
What are some of your career highlights?
I finished up my high school years then I went to Boise State. I have a degree in business, a degree in psychology, and a degree in elementary education. Then I finally decided to get a master’s degree after getting all those undergraduate degrees and got a master’s degree in educational leadership from Brigham Young University. I worked for the last two years that I was in college as a community relations director for an organ | 
Interviews
Interviews
