But Now I See

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 Holcomb (born April 14, 1980) is 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 is 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.

He continues to drive the USA One sled, the Night Train, and will defend his Olympic title at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

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 9 time world champion rodeo cowboy Ty Murray.