July 15, 2013
By Greg Mescall
Miles Cole was laid out on the hood of a Ford Flex in downtown Whittier, CA, on the last weekend of May.
His father prepared the precise amount of a wonder drug known as Advate, and then administered the medicine into a port embedded in the 14-year-old's chest.
That was the easiest part of Miles' day.
This medical ritual—which has taken place every two days since his birth in an effort to the control the effects of severe Hemophilia A—actually served as some quiet "down time" between two pivotal matches at the Coastal California Junior Olympic qualification tournament.
Post infusion, his Santa Barbara Water Polo Club did what it needed to do, defeating Rose Bowl in a shootout to claim third place and a spot in the 14U division at the upcoming Junior Olympics.
It's just another feather in a cap for the rising water polo center who committed to the sport full time about two years ago—a young man born with a disease so severe that a previous marker of success for Miles would have been simply reaching adolescence.
Hemophilia isn't in the news as much these days; a lot of that has to do with medicine. There's no cure for hemophilia, but before 1965 there wasn't even medicine to control the genetic disorder. Eventually a solution known as Factor VIII was developed using the blood of those without hemophilia. Prior to 1985 there was no blood-screening procedure in the U.S. (in the early '80s a majority of Factor VIII recipients became infected with HIV/AIDS).
Since then, things have improved drastically. Thanks to synthetic medicines, kids like Miles Cole—diagnosed at birth with hemophilia after a Vitamin K shot that would not stop bleeding—can compete on the USA Water Polo Men's Developmental National Team. Without the medicine Miles would become achy, bruise easily, and be unable to stop internal bleeding.
For many years the last thing someone with hemophilia would want to do is get involved in a rough-and-tumble sport such as water polo, but with his medicine, Miles is pretty much like all the other athletes in the pool. Take away the scars on his chest from old port surgeries, and you'd never know he was any different.
And those who've had the privilege of defending him at two meters know he doesn't mind the contact. "He simply loves the action in the pool," his dad, Joe, says. "The rougher the better."
Early in Miles' life the Coles had to take lots of precautions with their active toddler, including helmets and padded clothes. And while Joe is quick to acknowledge that the medicine he takes now doesn't make him indestructible, they never shied away from letting Miles be active.
"We've always treated him like anyone else; he's always loved sports," said Joe. "You just have to take it one day at a time. We are very, very careful about the medication and monitor any bruising."
Miles added that coming to water polo was also part of a long process. "It just kind of started with small sports like basketball at the YMCA," he said. "I got into competitive basketball, and that was really rough—my mom and dad were worried about all the elbows being thrown. Eventually I just started playing water polo because my brother played, and we thought I should try it."
Miles hasn't given up hoops just yet, but remains focused on water polo. His brother Jeff—10 years Miles' senior—was a star at Santa Barbara High School and went on to play four years at Princeton University. Miles is on a similar path…albeit with a noticeable wrinkle, after graduating from Santa Barbara Junior High, he will head to neighboring San Marcos High School. Success has followed Miles into the classroom where he was recently accepted to San Marcos' prestigious AAPLE program, short for Accelerated Academic Program for Leadership and Enrichment.
In the pool the 6'3", 180-pound Miles has begun to make a name for himself alongside club teammate Taylor Gustason, a regular at the ODP National Training and Selection Camp. Competing against the talented Gustason has only raised Miles' game. Where it goes from here remains to be seen, but the journey continues at Junior Olympics. "I would like to keep up in club, and be selected for ODP again," said Miles. "I'd like to play water polo in college, and if it presents itself, I'd like to play on the National Team and in the Olympics."
Cole and his Santa Barbara teammates have big aspirations for the Junior Olympics. They admit they may not be Gold Medal favorites in the world's largest water polo tournament, but they relish the chance to beat the best. "It's fun playing the top teams," said Miles. "You want to get revenge and beat them because they beat you before. We just have another chance to be better than them."
The JOs also represents another bonding opportunity for the Santa Barbara squad. Affectionately called "triple nipple" by his teammates (in reference to the port in his chest), Miles occasionally demonstrates his self-infusion procedure—which is quickly replacing the scene that unfolded in Whittier. At first there were questions for Miles, as well as concerns that teammates wouldn't treat him like everyone else. But that has all given way to moments like last summer on a club trip to Montenegro where teammates gathered around Miles as he performed the infusion into his arm.
"They are used to it by now," said Mile. "When I have to infuse, they think it's interesting. They treat me like anyone else; it's like a normal thing. I explained to all of them that since I have my medication, I'm just the same as them physically, and they should just treat me the same. And they did. Once I started getting better at water polo, they treated me exactly the same."
Being one of the guys is all Miles is looking for, so stories like this can be embarrassing. Shedding some more light on his condition takes the focus off what he's done in the pool, which is pretty impressive—and his potential seems to grow each day.
But the fact remains: What he's doing among the hemophilia community is groundbreaking.
Miles attends an annual Southern California Hemophilia Foundation camp with 100 other affected boys. He has assembled his friends for walks to raise money and awareness, and Miles' dad served as the Southern California chapter president for a few years. In addition the Cole family hosts an annual holiday party in Santa Barbara for the hemophilia community.
Someone with Miles condition playing sports at this level is rare, but he doesn't see himself as a trailblazer or even a huge inspiration—just an early adopter of new medicine. "I talk to the kids at camp," says Miles. "A lot of their parents don't want them playing sports. A lot of them accept that, and they don't really play sports."
"For a lot of them, it's probably long-held mindsets: They have hemophilia, and they have to be careful, or they will get hurt," says Joe. "It's understandable, but that's not the entire case with modern medication. You can be the same as everyone else. In Santa Barbara—this close-knit community with this new medicine—it's not remarkable. Everyone treats everyone the same."
It seems likely that there will be more athletes like Miles coming up in the future, but right now he seems like the only one doing what he's doing in the sport of water polo.
"What I've seen is two sides—older people in the hemophilia community who've had a very difficult time and are very close since they had to support each other," says Joe. "The new generation of kids like Miles can be treated like anyone else and have normal lives. While boxing and football may not be advisable, as we go forward it's won't be rare to have kids with hemophilia doing really well in physical sports."
For now, Miles will continue doing what he's doing—infusions every other day and getting better at water polo every day.
Next up is a trip to Orange County and the Junior Olympics. You'll probably notice Miles in the pool, too—and the reason won't have anything to do with the condition he's now able to control.
This story originally appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of SkipShot Magazine
