William Flaherty: The skier from Puerto Rico narrowly escaped death as a young boy, after the Olympics the next operation is waiting.
Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis – the diagnosis alone sounds scary. And William Flaherty actually went through hell, as a three-year-old boy the doctors gave him a ten percent chance of survival. 14 years later, the young man from Puerto Rico raced down the mountain on skis at the Olympics.
“When I think back to what I’ve been through, it’s incredible that I ended up here,” said Flaherty. The 17-year-old only escaped death after his immune system attacked his own organs thanks to a bone marrow donation from his brother Charles – Olympic starter in Pyeongchang four years ago – and numerous chemotherapy treatments.
Flaherty was 40th in giant slalom and 44th in slalom. “Hey, dad, did you see? We did it,” Flaherty wrote proudly on social media – his father Dennis was there shortly after the start of the Olympics Brother Charles died.
“Skiing is a stress reliever,” said Flaherty, who had a benign tumor removed from under his ear over the summer. And while he’s still young, Flaherty doesn’t expect to make it to the Olympics again. “I don’t think I can come back here,” he said, the next major operation is pending.
“They’re going to take a bone out of my leg and reshape it into a new jawbone for me because my lower left jaw is hollow,” Flaherty said. “I have to fix this all.”
The fight against death “never stops for him, but it’s okay,” said Flaherty, who is already used to hell: “It’s become part of my life at this point.”