'God is bigger than that': Daughter pens poem about father's paralyzing ski accident

Stephanie Warsmith, Akron Beacon Journal
Updated ·2 min read
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Grace Kolb had trouble processing her emotions after learning that her father had been in a skiing accident that left him paralyzed.

The 12-year-old was happy that Dr. Jason Kolb was alive but sad he wouldn't walk again.

Grace had an assignment to write a poem for one of her seventh grade classes at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. She decided to focus on her dad’s accident.

“I have to write everything down,” Grace, now 13, said in a recent interview at her family’s Kent home.

'Half of me did die': Akron ER doctor reinvents himself after paralyzing ski accident

Grace Kolb reads a poem she wrote for her father, Jason Kolb, during his rehabilitation at a hospital in Colorado. Jason Kolb was paralyzed from the waist down in a skiing accident in January 2023.
Grace Kolb reads a poem she wrote for her father, Jason Kolb, during his rehabilitation at a hospital in Colorado. Jason Kolb was paralyzed from the waist down in a skiing accident in January 2023.

Grace read the poem to her father when she visited him last year Craig Hospital, a rehabilitation facility in Colorado where he stayed for two months after his skiing accident in January 2023.

Dr. Jason Kolb, who was an emergency medicine doctor at Summa Akron City Hospital prior to his accident, said he was overcome by emotion when he heard Grace’s poem. He felt gratitude and joy.

“It was a touch of sadness too that my 12-year-old daughter was writing me a poem about my injury,” he said.

Jason Kolb and his daughter, Grace, hold hands at Craig Hospital, a rehabilitation facility in Colorado where Jason recovered for two months after he was injured in a skiing accident.
Jason Kolb and his daughter, Grace, hold hands at Craig Hospital, a rehabilitation facility in Colorado where Jason recovered for two months after he was injured in a skiing accident.

Kolb returned from his stay at Craig on Good Friday last year and spent the months since then rebuilding his life and learning to cope with his injury. His faith has helped to sustain him and his family during this trying time.

Here is Grace’s poem, which she titled “God is Bigger Than That:”

We were so close we almost made it to the end 

Until mom received a phone call from one of dad’s friends 

I knew there was something wrong, this was not okay 

Especially after the hint of Mom grabbing my arm with a look of dismay

Her red eyes widened as I felt her hands shake

My thoughts would not stop thinking, I wished it was all fake 

I gulped and I sighed as my stomach filled with butterflies

Again and again I tried to tell myself that I was believing lies 

Pain sunk deep in my heart as I watched Mom suffer

Waiting felt like years and it began to get tougher 

So I pulled up Dad’s location and saw him in an ambulance

There was no hope, not even a single chance

Just then my heart shattered into pieces that I knew could never be fixed 

I had felt so alone because my emotions were so mixed 

Remorse filled my brain after the answer was revealed 

I had no faith that Dad could ever be healed

Get me off this plane I want to leave immediately 

Everything is okay, Dad is fine, I lied repeatedly 

I squeezed Mom’s hand as hard as I could

No one will know how I felt but God understood 

He heard my battle cry through it all 

He was there with Dad during the ski fall 

It took a while for me to accept God’s plan in store for me

But God is bigger than I will ever see 

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj. 

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron doctor's daughter pens poem about father's paralyzing ski fall