Five Years Ago Today We Lost A Hero

It is hard to believe that it has been five years since we lost Tyler Trent. I don’t know that someone that I had contact with for such a short period of time will ever have as lasting of an impact on me as Tyler Trent did. He was so brave in the face of insurmountable odds. He had this great outlook about everything. There were times when I talked with Tyler when I came away with the impression that instead of me making him feel better it actually happened the other way around. This year in the days before the football game against Ohio State I started seeing videos of Tyler again. It had been a while honestly since I saw him speak. Right away those memories came rushing back to me. As the students walk into the stadium through the Tyler Trent entrance I wish that they could have had the same honor that I did every time that I spoke to him. I would love if somehow Purdue could find a way to include Tyler in their gameday packages. There has to be a way to get him into the basketball intro video. It would be cool to see him still a part of this program during every game.

Honoring Tyler

In the days just after his death Purdue found many ways to honor Tyler. The first was at the Purdue basketball game a couple of days after his passing. I had spent part of that day at a cancer center getting something removed. Everyone that I came into contact with saw my Tyler Strong shirt and had something to say about him. That night I was not supposed to lift anything heavy, but I wanted to make some photos to commemorate the night. I just wanted to be with others sharing memories of Tyler. Of course making the photo above I lifted my lens higher than I was supposed to and busted my stitches. It was a small price to pay to pay homage to Tyler. I took my bracelet off to put it in the photo. A little touch to remember the man who gave it to me in the first place. That bracelet still sits on my desk where I work to remind me of what true courage is. A few days after the basketball game a campus wide memorial took place at the center of campus. That is where the other photos from this post came from. I was there covering the event, but I found myself sharing stories with other students. Tyler had a way of touching us all.