13 February 2023 , 09:21
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Australian Paralympian Natalie Curtis has died suddenly at the age of 34.
The basketball player was a member of Australia's wheelchair basketball squad ahead of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where the Aussies missed out on a medal. She was also renowned for raising awareness of disability sports and athletes.
Curtis died on February 5 but the cause of death is not yet known. The tragic news was confirmed on Facebook by her sister Emma, who posted: “If you knew Natalie, you would know she was the most beautiful, kind and talented person. She was a daughter, a sister, an auntie and a mother to a beautiful little boy."
Curtis was born with spina bifida but it didn't curtail her involvement in sport, and her sibling added: “Everyone who knew her loved her instantly, she had such a kind soul and would do anything for the people she cared for most.”
The star had to overcome adversity in her career, with another sister drowning at a young age. She took up basketball as a teenager and in 2013 won silver with Australia at the 2013 Japan Oceania Championships, but shortly afterwards suffered multiple spinal fractures in a car accident.
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She hit the headlines last October when she had to crawl off a Jetstar flight because the airline failed to provide her with an aisle wheelchair on landing. The Townsville star later described the experience as "humiliating."
Tributes have poured in following Curtis' death (Facebook)She said: “They all just sat around for a while and the option that was left was for me to get on the floor and crawl. It was extremely humiliating so I definitely don’t want anyone else to go through what I had to go through."
Curtis also coached wheelchair basketball and founded Vital Supports and Supplies, a disability care services company. She also worked closely with the charity Sporting Dreams.
The organisation have also paid tribute: “A young soul taken too soon. She was so much more than an athlete," they said, in a released statement. “A vibrant human being, wife, mother to a small boy, business founder and manager of her own company supporting people with disabilities. Someone who leads by example. RIP Natalie.”