Oak Harbor sophomore Carson Slates doesn't let cystic fibrosis define him
Life is like a breathing treatment.
When Carson Slates was a kid, he had to lay on the floor on his stomach so that mucous could be dislodged from his chest with forceful compressions. He would go from enduring such sessions to quickly soaring off the back of the living room couch like a professional wrestler.
The courageous little boy grew into a responsible young man, without allowing cystic fibrosis to become part of his identity.
Slates, now a sophomore basketball player at Oak Harbor, scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers, in a Rockets victory over Cardinal Stritch this month.
“I don’t worry about things I can’t control,” he said. “I was born with it; I can’t just get rid of it. I use it as motivation to work hard and perform in sports and not let something I was born with and can’t control affect me daily.
“Determination and hard work, in sports and with treatments. For some people it can be a lot. I’ve done it for my whole life so I’m used to it.”
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One of Slates’ parents would basically crawl on his back with circular rubbery tools that looked like air hockey paddles.
“They’d pound my back with one on each hand,” he said.
Doctors always told Slates it was therapeutic to remain active. He loved to oblige, but he knew what came first.
“Treatments aren’t always fun,” he said. “You don’t always want to do them. That’s what helps me. Sometimes I didn’t fully understand why, that was part of the reason I didn’t like doing it.
“Once I’m done, I’m a normal kid. Do that, and it’s back to what I’m doing. Play outside or jump in the pool. It’s just a little interruption. Once 30 minutes are up, I can go back to me and what I enjoy doing.”
Neglecting treatments can lead to poor lung function and potentially necessitate a transplant at some point. The urgency of treatments was reinforced when Slates was 11 and contracted pseudamonas, a lung virus, and became further aware of his vulnerability.
“I didn’t know what it was,” he said. “On top of my breathing treatments, I had to do another. Now, it was an hour. I didn’t know how serious it was, but doctors said (it was).”
He’s learned to look at his affliction through the best lens possible.
“When I was a kid, 12, my parents did everything,” he said. “When I was 8, I’d forget treatments or I’d be on the playground and forget my medicine. I’m 16 now so I do all that myself. It’s a habit, a daily routine.
“I have to have medicine to help me digest food. I always have to have medicine on me. The challenges are less frequent because I understand it. I know why I have to take everything and do everything and when and do it on my own and be responsible.”
Slates has no limitations so to speak, unless you consider his regimen, which can be time consuming. He does a breathing treatment when he wakes up and before he goes to sleep.
He must remember to take medicine to help with lung function, and assist in his weight gain and growth twice a day with 12 hours between. He could skip an occasional treatment, but it’s better not to and he doesn’t.
If he eats without medicine, he’s liable to have a stomach ache for a few days.
“Mucous in my lungs is all I know of what it is,” he said of cystic fibrosis. “I have breathing treatments for 30 minutes every morning and night. It’s a stamina thing, but with doing treatments and staying active, I’m not out of shape much.
“I have two inhalers, the first treatment is both medicines. The second treatment is only one, they must be four hours apart. I have two machines. One has a vest with Velcro. There’s a tube into each side and the machine pumps air and the vest shakes up everything in my lungs.”
Cystic fibrosis doesn’t diminish Slates’ dreams
Oak Harbor boys basketball coach Eric Sweet is aware of Slates’ affliction, but not because it causes either of them a problem.
“He hasn’t let it define him,” Sweet said. “He still does the things he enjoys and he loves, being a varsity sophomore getting big buckets and running the show in high school. If you told the kid then that he would have lit up in the face.
“He’s competed his entire life and he’s reaping rewards. He’s competed against something a lot of people don’t understand and have to deal with. He might get a little tired or worn out, he kept doing it.
“He’s doing big things, as a varsity scorer, a varsity shooter, with the ball in his hands. He’s just out there being a kid.”
Slates learned he’d be the varsity point guard against Cardinal Stritch before the junior varsity game. Mike LaLonde wasn’t at full strength.
“Coach Sweet told me I had to step up and handle the ball,” he said. “Coach Sweet has confidence in me to shoot when I’m open. I made four 3s, that was a good feeling.
“It was my first start. It gave me a confidence boost.”
Slates was prepared to be patient but earned his way up the ladder.
“I understand my role, I’m more an offensive guy,” he said. “(Ethan) Stokes is our guy, but when the opportunity is there, coach wants me to shoot the ball. I worked hard and my goal was varsity.
“I’m glad where I’m at.”
Slates was on Sweet’s radar before this season, but he’s still been a bit of a surprise.
“We weren’t sure where he’d fall,” Sweet said. “We knew he’d come in and help. That sophomore class, he was a kid we knew about. He plays AAU. He was always a name in our coaches office.
“It was a matter of when and where and at what point it would go. This was the year.”
Slates isn’t particularly strong. He isn’t fast. But, “with the ball in his hands, he’s better,” Sweet said. “He's stronger on the court than off. He won’t beat you up the court on a sprint, or in the weight room. You need other skill sets. His ball handling and shooting allow him to get comfortable.”
Most of Slates' goals are team oriented. He has already spent more time in the spotlight than he imagined.
“I want to win the league and make a playoff run,” he said. “It would be cool to play a regional game at Bowling Green State. For myself in the future, I want to be a varsity starter and play in college.”
“My parents played (Kevin and Amy at Woodmore). I try to make them proud and be the best I can be.”
Slates never felt compelled to prove anything
He wanted to show himself.
"Being born with it, I want to be the best I can in everything I do," he said. "Sports, academics, as a person. Just because I was born with it, doesn’t mean it will stop me.”
Slates doesn’t mind if you know he has cystic fibrosis.
“Some people see me taking my medicine, I’m not scared to tell anybody why I have to take it,” he said. “You can’t tell, unless you see me taking medicine or doing a treatment.”
Slates’ younger sister, Kennedy, 14, also has cystic fibrosis.
“We are going through the same thing and we have to do the same treatments and same medicine,” Slates said. “Seeing her doing it and dealing with it proves I can, too. We have the same doctors’ appointments and everything we deal with, seeing her too it’s not so bad.
“I’m not alone fighting cystic fibrosis.”
Kennedy plays soccer and does track.
“I live a normal lifestyle, with treatments and medicine,” he said. “I go about life like anybody else. At school, I have to take medicine before lunch. I’m like everybody else, except behind the scenes morning, noon and night, I have to worry about a few things medically.
“Pushing myself to do them helps me in life. There are things you don’t want to do. Like conditioning in basketball, if it’s something you do to succeed, you push through and do it. It’s like a breathing treatment.”
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This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Oak Harbor boys basketball player Slates not slowed by cystic fibrosis
