One of the top bobsledders in the world and leader of the four-man American team, Steven Holcomb had finished sixth in the 2006 Olympics and medaled in nearly every competition he entered. He was considered a strong gold contender for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Talented, aggressive, and fearless, he was at the top of his game. But Steven Holcomb had a dangerous secret. Steven Holcomb was going blind. In the prime of his athletic career, he was diagnosed with keratoconus—a degenerative disease affecting 1 in 1,000 and leaving 1 in 4 totally blind without a cornea transplant. In the world of competitive sports, it was a dream killer. Not a sport for the timid, bobsledding speeds approach 100 miles per hour through a series of hairpin turns. Serious injuries—even deaths—can result. But Holcomb kept his secret from his coach, sled mates, and the public for months and continued to drive the legendary sled The Night Train. When he finally told his coach, Holcomb was led to a revolutionary treatment, later named the Holcomb C3-R. With his sight restored to 20/20, Holcomb became the first American in 50 years to win the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation World Championship, and the first American bobsledder since 1948 to win the Olympic gold medal. With a foreword by Geoff Bodine, NASCAR champion and founder of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, But Now I See is the intimate portrait of a man's pursuit of a dream, laced with humility and the faith to find a way when all seems hopeless. It's about knowing anything is possible and the gift of a second chance. " ""Steven is a class act, and his story is one of perseverance. I am lucky to have heard it from Steven himself, just as you will in these pages. The Olympic Movement is a movement about friendship, excellence, and respect, and you will see those values very clearly in Steven's story."" — Scott Blackmun, CEO, U.S. Olympic Committee ""Steven Holcomb's vision of a goal was not only seen with the eyes, but also with his heart! As you will read in But Now I See , true champions always find a way to win."" — Richard H. Wright, President/CEO, AdvoCare " Steven Holcomb was an American bobsled driver who won the Olympic gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the first gold medal in four-man bobsledding for the United States since 1948. He also won the 2009 World Championship in Lake Placid, N.Y., the first American to achieve that feat since 1959. A veteran of the Utah Army National Guard, Holcomb was the only Olympic athlete for whom a medical procedure is named: the Holcomb C3-R procedure for keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease that can lead to total blindness. Holcomb was cured of keratoconus from the procedure and went on to become America's most decorated bobsledder. Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, "America's TV Eye Doctor," who treated Steven's condition, has dedicated his book Perceptual Intelligence to Steven's memory. Steve Eubanks is a bestselling author and sports writer who has collaborated with such noteworthy athletes as golf great Arnold Palmer, NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon, hall of fame football coach Lou Holtz, Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger, and nine-time world champion rodeo cowboy Ty Murray. But Now I See My Journey From Blindness To Olympic Gold By Steven Holcomb, Steve Eubanks, Debbie Harmsen BenBella Books, Inc. Copyright © 2013 Steven Holcomb All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-939529-85-5 Contents Copyright, Foreword, Prologue, One Blinding Fear, Two The Right Place, Three Right Time, Four Push, Ride, Repeat, Five Army Strong, Six Bumps on the Ice, Seven Grasping the D-Rings, Eight Fine Lines, Nine Bright Lights, Dark Corners, Ten Holcomb C3-R, Eleven The Beach, Twelve The Night Train, Epilogue, Career World Cup & World Championship Medals, Acknowledgments, CHAPTER 1 Blinding Fear Fear is the most intense, stimulating high a human can experience. Nothing else comes close. From the "startle reflex" — that dilating and widening of the eyes and tightening of the muscles that comes about when your car hits a slick spot or someone sneaks up behind you and yells "Boo!" — to the off-the-charts heartbeats — the quick breathing, the adrenal gland in overdrive, and the sharpened senses as blood flees certain organs and rushes to major muscle groups — no drug can replicate the feeling of dozens of hormones flooding the body and billions of cells firing in response to fear. It is a reflex triggered deep inside the amygdala, a section of the brain near the cerebral cortex, one that causes you to tighten your face and duck your head when firecrackers go off close to you or when the scary monster jumps out in a movie. It is why women are able to lift cars off trapped children and arthritic old men are able to beat off young muggers. This adrenaline rush is the reason some people jump off cliffs wearing wing suits or somersault off the Eiffel Tower holding their parachutes