SOUTHPORT, England — When you Google the life expectancy of a person with cystic fibrosis, as David Howard did—and as anyone would do after they have been diagnosed—what you find is that you can die as soon as your mid-20s. That’s grim news to digest as a child and goes a long way to explaining the almost superhuman inner strength of the 27-year-old Irishman who is not only alive, but is competing as an amateur at the Open Championship.
And somehow, surviving with a rare genetic disorder that can lead to lung infections and other organ disease is just the start of his incredible story.
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At the start of the week, a friend told me I should read up on Howard, which led me to this excellent Irish Times piece by Gavin Cooney. And while listing Howard’s difficulties as bullet points may be a crass way to present his story, I’m mostly piggybacking off Cooney’s work, and the rundown is staggering:
• Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age 7 (later than most sufferers), after several years of misdiagnosis
• Had access to the internet before recent therapeutic advances, which is when he read the most dire life-expectancy predictions
• Often missed two-week stretches of school while in the hospital, receiving IV drips to treat infections
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• In secondary school, he began drinking, and if he was caught, he’d say things like, “sure it doesn’t matter, I won’t be here much longer”
• Received counseling, and got into golf, one of the few sports he could play
• Began studying to be a mechanic while his game blossomed (he was a +5 handicap), and beat his dad in a match-play championship
• Then came COVID, when he “lost touch with reality,” didn’t eat or sleep for days on end, and—this is where things get really wild—began to have manic episodes where he thought he was receiving hidden messages from god (including the winning Lotto numbers) and that he was going to become the world’s richest man.
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• Needless to say, this led to another hospital stay, when doctors took him all off medication, leading to sickness, and told his parents and girlfriend he may never “be himself” again
• Over the next year, he proved them wrong, but it was the most difficult of an already difficult life
• He began to work again, but started wondering what could happen if he gave golf a real shot, which led to a win at the East of Ireland event, a second at the Irish Amateur Open, and a successful bid at Final Qualifying to earn his way into this year’s Open
It’s a story that just becomes more jaw-dropping with each new detail, and needless to say, just being here is a tremendous victory for Howard.
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But of course, as a golfer, he wants more. On Thursday, he shot a four-over 74 at Royal Birkdale. On his hat, he wore a purple rose, the symbol of 65 Roses Day, an Irish fundraising campaign for cystic fibrosis (Ireland has the world’s highest rate of the disease). In his press conference after his round, Howard, who is slight and bearded, with a constant smile, lively eyes and a slightly restless demeanor, spoke of his nerves and his play, but mostly his gratitude.
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“It’s a nation wide of people getting onto me and kind of supporting me and telling me that they have relatives with CF,” he said. “From all around the world, definitely, loads of people onto the end. I definitely feel that support as well, and it’s great to see that. I suppose people with CF have something to look forward to or look up to, and maybe that can drive them on as well.”
The crowd, especially its Irish contingent, knew Howard’s story. He joked that along with buoying him, it added to the pressure of the day. He was headed to the range after his interview, where he wanted to clean up a few things and try to put together a great Friday (he tees off at 3:48 p.m. local time), and perhaps even make the cut.
Today, the outlook for cystic fibrosis is much better for people with access to new therapies (Howard specifically called out Vertex Pharmaceuticals, thanking them for their life-changing advances in treatment). The median survival age for patients in places like the U.K. and U.S. is far from the horror story Howard read as a child and is drifting now into the mid-60s. Howard himself takes almost 30 pills a day and works with nutritionists and a physiotherapist in Ireland to make sure he’s competition ready. His challenges range beyond CF, and along with mental health, include a non-functioning pancreas and a back issue that may stem from his childhood coughing fits.
For all it has taken to bring him where he is today, Howard is quick to thank his team, his parents and his girlfriend. But when I asked him what it was about him that explained this resilience, despite what anyone would define as a rough hand, he pointed to the very disease at the center of it all.
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“I think it’s a CF thing, to be honest,” he said. “I think people with CF are just very determined people. We’re not quitters. We really want to get past this and keep fighting. Fighting for the struggle for so long, and I think we’re going to just keep fighting till the end.”
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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.
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