The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- June 21, 1999

Oklahoma gymnast scores perfect '10' against cystic fibrosis

BY KAY HAWES
STAFF WRITER

At 20, most young people are just beginning their lives, just beginning to see where they fit in the world and what kind of career fits them. They expect to live for a long time still and accomplish many more goals.

Jake Moran, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Oklahoma, already has accomplished many goals that others thought were unreachable, and he's also lived four more years than doctors said he ever would. That alone would be an accomplishment, but he's also a successful gymnast, a feat practically unheard of for someone with cystic fibrosis.

One of the symptoms of cystic fibrosis is dangerously thick mucus in the lungs. This can cause difficulties breathing and frequent respiratory infections as the mucus clogs and scars the lungs, killing lung cells.

When Moran was diagnosed 17 years ago, it was devastating news to his family. He had been healthy, but his 5-month-old sister, Angela, had been very ill. After she was diagnosed, the doctors diagnosed him as well.

Back then, the parents of those with cystic fibrosis were told not to worry about saving for college tuition -- it was extremely rare for the children to survive that long.

"Back years ago when he was diagnosed, we were told that we would never raise him," said his mother, Sharon Moran. "That was very, very discouraging. It was heartbreaking. They took our hope away, but that's not the way it is today anymore."

Advanced medicines and technology, including machines designed to help clear the lungs, have helped cystic fibrosis patients lead longer and longer lives. The median life expectancy for people with the disease has gone from about 12 years, when Moran was diagnosed, to about 30 years now.

Still, it's extremely rare for a cystic fibrosis sufferer to be a collegiate student-athlete.

"For a cystic fibrosis child to compete at the junior-high or high-school level is almost unheard of," said Carol Beall, a volunteer for the Sooner chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. "We've never heard of anyone competing at the college level."

Moran and his sister began participating in sports to try to maintain their lung capacity for as long as possible. Moran played Little League baseball and took up gymnastics, as did his sister, who only recently stopped participating because of an injury.

Sports helped Moran manage his disease, and he discovered that he had a gift for gymnastics. Moran was a three-time all-American gymnast in high school, and he won the Texas high-school state championship on the pommel horse.

Greg Buwick, the men's gymnastics head coach at Oklahoma, saw Moran compete at the Texas state championships and asked him to walk on with the Sooners.

Ironically, Moran's biggest hurdle in sports was not his lungs but his knee. During a tumbling move when he was 12, Moran split his kneecap in half. Moran had to live with the pain and postpone surgery to repair his knee until he had stopped growing.

"I lived with it for six years," Moran said. "Every day I had to tape it up and wear a huge brace to keep my kneecap intact. It was just really painful, but I could still do gymnastics."

The injury -- which doctors think may have been caused by cystic fibrosis medications that softened his knees -- ended Moran's competition in tumbling and many other events requiring an explosive takeoff or landing, but he could still participate in his favorite event -- the pommel horse. This season he averaged 9.4 on the horse for the Sooners.

Moran also is a successful student, majoring in business administration. He was honored as a Sooner Scholar in February.

Moran recently used his skill on the pommel horse to help raise funds for cystic fibrosis.

Last month Moran performed on the pommel horse at a fund-raiser in Oklahoma City. He also took the chance to encourage children who suffer from the disease.

"Our kids are so excited to meet Jake," Beall said. "This sort of thing is so far out of their reach, they don't even dream about it."

Moran wants to be a role model for youngsters who suffer from the disease.

"I want to show other kids with cystic fibrosis that they don't have to think that way, especially these kids," he said. "They don't need to feel as though there's no hope. There are things they can do to help themselves."

Moran should know all about that.