JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In 2013, while a student at Jacksonville University, Curtis Higgons' lungs were in worst shape than he had imagined.
"You don't know what you are going through at that time," he recalled. "At 40 to 50 percent, it was just another day that I lived."
Higgons, 27, lived with Cystic Fibrosis and it was taking a toll on his body and his life.
December of that year, he was forced to have life-saving surgery, even so, his prognosis was grim.
"Essentially, they put you on life support," Higgons said.
But while in the hospital, four days after his surgery, he became the recipient of a double-lung transplant. He was not on the organ transplant list -- it was his holiday miracle.
"It was one of those things when I woke up with lungs, not knowing that I was going to get them," Higgons said.
Now he has a new life and competes in the Transplant Games.
Higgons has 14 medals to show -- five gold, five silver and four bronze.
"People go into these competitions to try to just know that they can still do the things that they used to be able to do with a new lease on life," he said.
Until his medical experience, he had never heard of the Transplant Games.
His first competition was 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. Then he went to the 2018 games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 2019, he went to the World Transplant Games in Newcastle, England.
"It was such a good experience to meet people from all over the world," Higgons said.
Beyond the spirit of competition, they all had one thing in common. They are organ transplant recipients.
"In England, I competed in bowling and I competed in darts," he said.
At the other games, it was swimming and poker.
Higgons started his internet/web computer business. He wants to see an increase in awareness about the transplant games, the games that have changed his life forever.
"You are grateful just to win one medal let alone fourteen," he said.