When Kurtis was 12, he lived in a two-story home in Austin, Texas. His house was located by railroad tracks, which scared Kurtis and kept him up at night.

“It was one of the scariest nights of my life,” said Kurtis.
During spring break he was home alone often because both of his parents worked. He was sitting up stairs watching TV with his dog Jessie and he heard strange humming noises coming from the basement. He grabbed his baseball bat and slowly crept downstairs.
Everything looked normal in his basement except the screen door was open and the light was on in his dad’s office. As he walked closer to the office the humming sounds got louder and his grip on the bat got tighter.
When Kurtis got closer to the door he saw the back of a man starring at his grandfather clock. Immediately Kurtis freaked out, dropped the bat, and ran upstairs. Kurtis shut the basement door and sprinted to the home phone to call his mom.
“There is a MAN in our basement, come home now!”
10 minutes later his parents arrived at his house and walked downstairs to find his grandpa attempting to fix their grandfather clock. Kurtis’ grandpa suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and Kurtis didn’t understand why his grandpa was there. That night his parents explained what Alzheimer’s is and it really changed Kurtis’ outlook on life.
“It showed me that the people around me won’t always be there and if they are they might not be there mentally,” said Kurtis.
“It was really a life changing experience; I always took my health for granted and never really thought about how blessed I am to live a normal life.”