FENTON, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
A Parkway Central water polo player appeared to be fit and healthy to his team members, but in a flash he was taken from them by a brain aneurysm. Thursday night his team took to the water in tribute."One-Two-Three Colts!" scream members of the Parkway Central Water Polo Team.
The cheer echoes across the Rockwood Summit pool but to those in that circle, the cheer seems a bit hollow as there is one less in the water for the Colts.
"We know he is here," says player Clayton Sussman, "and we know he is going to get us through this one."
He was there in spirit but 18-year-old Cosmin Dumitru wasn't and wont ever be in person.
"It's traumatic he is one of my best friends," says Captain Brett Wiese, "a critical part of our team."
Last weekend their friend and teammate complained of his hands going numb, minutes later he was unconscious and in a coma, days later he would pass away. In a snap, a brain aneurysm took his promising life and left a hole in this team.
"I don't know where to start he was a great guy one of the most upbeat individuals," tells Wiese.
"If we had a really tough practice or game he was the one that said you guys we can do this, keep going," remembers Sussman.
"Great kid out of the water," tells his coach Kevin Maibe, "one of those kids that always made the right decision."
Suddenly his teammates were left with a tough decision.
"We almost pulled out of the tournament this weekend," says Maibe, "we met as a team and we talked about Cosmin would have wanted us to play this weekend."
So they took to the water without number 9 in person but with him in mind.
I felt like it was the right thing to do, says Sussman, its definitely what he would have wanted us to do.
They did take to the pool, winning their first game without Cosmin on Wednesday night and again were victorious in the second game Thursday. Losing a teammate is tough enough but his death in a such a seemingly random and sudden way teaches these teens something he exampled in life: to live every day to its fullest.
"I would say that pretty much sums it up entirely none of us had any clue," says Sussman, "he was a great friend to me its going to be tough looking around during games and not seeing him there with me."
But inside they feel he has never left.
"We still depend on his to watch and help us from above," says Wiese.
