"I was skating with @max_jenson @tonechapo @travisrivera and all of a sudden I went into a seizure, fell on my face and woke up in an ambulance also my heart stopped. I had 3 seizures after that when I got to the hospital. So grateful to be alive!" he posted on Instagram at the time.
In 2012, David won the Junior World Surfing title in Panama, solidifying his success as a professional surfer. At just 14 years old, he was "a skating prodigy" according to his 2016 profile in Stab Magazine.
During the same interview, David told the magazine he could never choose between his passions for skating and surfing. "If it was life or death, and I had to choose skating or surfing, I'd choose death."
Famed surfer Kelly Slater posted pictures on Instagram of a young Kalani with the 11-time world champion and said, “Kalani was one of the most talented ever surfer/skaters on Earth, constantly pushing the limits every time he was on his feet….Condolences to the huge community of friends Kalani had coast to coast and across the globe.”
According to a 2019 Men’s Journal article, David had surgery to help correct a rare heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. The open-heart procedure was performed to help curtail the seizures he had been experiencing, the article said.
In June, David posted a picture of himself tube riding and wrote, “With these seizures I keep having my neurologist said no driving and no surfing until I stop having them. I mean I could surf but, if I was to have one and don’t get saved in time I’ll either die or become a vegetable because I don’t have enough air to my brain.
“I keep getting lucky, I had a seizure driving and the other in the water within a couple months. The past couple years been having seizures sleeping and just Angels watching over me cause idk how I keep getting so lucky and living thru it all. Time to get this stuff in order so I can move ahead in life, at least I can skate and fish!”
In his last Instagram post, three weeks ago, David shared a video of him skateboarding, pulling off various tricks while dropping in and out of a bowl.
David has previously dealt with medical issues during workouts, and in 2016 said that he was "grateful to be alive" after having a seizure at a California skate park.
"I was skating with @max_jenson @tonechapo @travisrivera and all of a sudden I went into a seizure, fell on my face and woke up in an ambulance also my heart stopped. I had 3 seizures after that when I got to the hospital. So grateful to be alive!" he posted on Instagram at the time.
In 2012, David won the Junior World Surfing title in Panama, solidifying his success as a professional surfer. At just 14 years old, he was "a skating prodigy" according to his 2016 profile in Stab Magazine.
During the same interview, David told the magazine he could never choose between his passions for skating and surfing. "If it was life or death, and I had to choose skating or surfing, I'd choose death."
David's mother, Andrea, launched a GoFundMe on Sunday ... saying she needs help getting his body back to the states so she can bury him next to his grandfather in Florida.
"Our son is laying in wait at a morgue in San Jose, Costa Rica," Andrea said on the site.
"He deserved more than I could ever give him and I don’t even feel right for asking but I will for Kalani. I don’t want my son in a jar or spread on the water, as I would see fit for myself."
However, his illness did not prevent him from succeeding in sports and he practiced both surfing and skateboarding. He won the Junior World Surfing title in Panama in 2012, in the Under-16 category, while competing for first place in the main skate circuits.
The young American died on Saturday morning in Playa Hermosa, Jacó, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, the Judicial Investigation Agency confirmed.
"He was surfing when he apparently suffered some kind of epileptic seizure and drowned," the entity said in a message to The Associated Press. "The death is still under investigation."
The filmmaker Peter King was one of the first to disclose his death through social media, while praising his fighting spirit.
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