Dante DeSimone
Written By: Kevin Fonio
Take a second to look back on your life, look at all of the struggles that helped you become the person you are today. Think about all of the blood, sweat and tears you, reading this article, have been through. It is a lot, is it not? When you look back at your life and what you personally experienced, think about the lessons you learned. Think about the lessons you acquired as a child, learning the dos and dont’s about “the real world.” Then, fast forward through the entire pain and heartache you felt and think about what you have in front of you. YOU have a future in front you, you have the sky and beyond to conquer your dreams and surpass all of your fears. YOU have that opportunity.
I have faced many struggles in my life. At the age of 13, I underwent brain surgery and almost lost my life. I endured four knee surgeries. Despite these hindrances, I play lacrosse for Neumann University. Dante DeSimone did as well. Dante passed away on January 12, 2014. A car struck him. He was my cousin and he was one of the happiest people I met in my entire life. Dante’s struggles to be a successful athlete started when he was young with a disease that would not allow him to walk at the age of three. Incessantly, he fought until he could walk. He grew up with the desire to play sports and he succeeded. He became an amazing athlete in hockey and lacrosse.
In lacrosse, Dante played the least favorable position on the field; he was a “FOGO” (Face Off Get Off). Dante’s responsibility on the team was to face off and give the offense the ball, repeatedly until the team won the game. Dante was not the most athletic player, he was not the fastest and he was not the strongest. However, he did have heart. Having heart in sports today is such a misused phrase because when you say to someone, “You have heart,” most of the time it just means you have no other redeeming qualities that will help out the team so let us just say that. But Dante embodied that phrase. It did not matter how tired he was or how much bigger, stronger and faster the opponent was, Dante always had the mindset that “I don’t know how, but I will beat you.”
There is this quote that I live by, spoken by my idol, Jimmy Valvano. He said, “I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get your emotions going.” Think about what he said and then reflect on what you do on a day-to-day basis. Are you really “you"? Do you sweat the small? When you are trying to figure out who you really are, it is important to know one thing: when you ask yourself these types of questions, are you asking the difficult ones where there are places where you do not want to go or are you asking yourself the “easy” questions that you can answer without hesitation.
Like Jimmy Valvano said, enjoy your life, the precious moments you have on this earth. You have the sky and more for your future, understand what your “why” really is in your life. You never know, it could end tomorrow. Dante, I will never forget you. I will never forget the smile you had to make the darkest of rooms light up.
“Let your fire burn forever. #DoItForDante21”
