Good Scout. (The Goodness of America).(Utah Boy Scout earns 123 badges)(Brief Article)

Jedadiah Curry, 16, is a junior at Altamont High School in the Uintah Basin city of Altamont in eastern Utah. At age 11, after earning virtually every award attainable under the Cub Scout program sponsored by Boy Scouts of America (BSA), he began collecting the 21 merit badges required for Scouting's highest rank of Eagle. He received his Eagle Scout Award at age 12, but did not stop there. In November of last year, Jed completed work on his 123rd merit badge, placing him among an elite handful of Scouts who have earned every badge offered by the BSA, including some that have been discontinued. Kay Godfrey, information officer for the BSA's Great Salt Lake Council, told the Salt Lake Tribune for December 26, 2001: "In my 25 years of professional Scouting I've only seen one or two who have done that."

Tribune community news editor David Noyce described how the abundance of badges have created a formidable space problem on his uniform. His mother "started with a sash, but Jed quickly filled that up. So she switched to a bigger sash and reattached the patches. Jed has since filled that one up, too -- front and back," forcing his mom to begin "stitching merit badges on the right sleeve of his uniform."

Jed's impressive Scouting achievements are notable by themselves, but especially so considering the serious physical ailments that have plagued him since birth. He must, for instance, take 15 to 20 pills several times each day to cope with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease with which he was diagnosed as a baby. Cystic fibrosis entails a tendency for chronic lung infections and an inability to absorb fats and other nutrients from food. He spends an hour or more each day hooked up to a machine that breaks up congestion in his lungs, and must carry a battery-powered device for that purpose on camping trips.

Jed also has Type I diabetes, and must test his blood numerous times each day and self-administer insulin injections. Occasionally, he is also plagued by asthma. "All these ...