Dent, West Virginia Swimming Assistant Battling Cystic Fibrosis

David Dent, West Virginia Swimming Assistant Coach Battling Cystic Fibrosis

David Dent was spiraling. The swim coach knew one thing was fallacious, however he couldn’t pinpoint it, and it wouldn’t cease affecting him.

Eventually, the West Virginia assistant coach was identified with cystic fibrosis.

“After landing my dream job coaching at a Division I school, I noticed something weird — my hands would wrinkle instantly in water,” Dent told the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “Not just prune up a little, but full-on aquagenic wrinkling within seconds. I’d never really thought about it before, but it stuck with me. This isn’t normal. I started digging. Researching. Reading medical papers. And every trail led to the same place: cystic fibrosis. A few tests later, the diagnosis was official — I had cystic fibrosis. At 33 years old.”

It was each relieving and startling. But it began the therapeutic course of, each mentally and bodily.

“It’s made me reflect on everything I accomplished before this diagnosis, both as an athlete and a coach, and just how much I’d been carrying without knowing it. I wasn’t just overcoming a tough background,” he mentioned. “I was unknowingly training with a chronic genetic disease the entire time.”

And he was a terrific swimmer, an NCAA qualifier at Fairmont earlier than turning to teaching.

“I was always thin. Always coughing,” Dent informed the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “I cleared my throat consistently after races, throughout exercises, even whereas I used to be teaching. I didn’t achieve muscle or weight like the opposite sprinters. My restoration was at all times somewhat behind. But I brushed it off. I figured that was simply my physique.

“Then COVID-19 happened and everything got worse.”

Dent contracted the virus and issues began spiraling.

“I kept getting sick, fatigued, and inflamed. My sinuses were a mess. I started having anxiety, or what I thought was anxiety — chest tightness, insomnia, and lightheadedness. I went from working out daily to barely doing anything. For over two years, I lived like that. Burned out, confused, and frustrated. Doctors told me it was stress and anxiety driving my sickness. They prescribed meds that didn’t help. I tried everything,” he mentioned.

He was the pinnacle coach at Florida Tech and West Virginia Tech.

“At the time, I was the head swim coach at a Division II school. I built a powerhouse program and had one of the most successful tenures in school history. But my body was falling apart. I couldn’t keep up. I was exhausted all the time, getting sick constantly, and still had no real explanation for any of it. I kept pushing, but my health kept declining. I was stuck.”

Dent is aware of he isn’t the one one with a narrative like this, he wished to share his expertise.

“This journey isn’t about what I’ve lost. It’s about what I’m building now — a path forward for others like me who were told it was just in their head. Because it wasn’t,” he mentioned. “And we’re not alone anymore.”