MELBOURNE: If sheer bloody-minded determination is the key to a Wallabies jersey, cystic fibrosis sufferer Nathan Charles would be picked first by coach Ewen McKenzie for Australia’s three-test series against France.
The 25-year-old Western Force hooker is among the four uncapped hopefuls in McKenzie’s preliminary 32-man squad, having stubbornly refused to let the debilitating genetic disease stall his inspirational rise to the top flight of a full contact sport demanding unflinching courage, skill and stamina.
Overcoming adversity is an oft-repeated cliché in professional sport, but Charles has lived with a far more sobering truism -- that cystic fibrosis, a disorder that attacks the lungs and other major organs, means a death sentence for half of sufferers before their 40th birthday.
“My parents told me there was nothing in this world I can’t do, and said ‘if you want something, you go and work your arse off to get it’ and that’s what I did,” Charles told reporters on Thursday.
“That’s the philosophy I’ve had all of my life and I’ve never let anything get in the way of achieving the goals that I want.”
In a country where rugby writers speak of a game sliding gradually but inexorably toward financial oblivion, Charles has been a shining light for the embattled code, reminding fans of greater issues at stake than scorelines, bottom lines and win-loss ratios. When diagnosed with CF as a baby, Charles’s parents were told their son might not live to be 10 years old. Seven years after his 10th birthday, the Sydney-born Charles was picked for the national Schoolboys rugby squad in 2006, having also excelled at rugby league and mulled pursuing a professional career in the rival code.
He notched his 50th cap with the Perth-based Force last month, an achievement all the more impressive after coming back from a serious knee injury that blighted his season last year.
Controlling the disease rather than being controlled has been Charles’s mantra throughout his career.
It’s hardly something he can ignore. A daily regime of dozens of pills and vitamins to keep fit and quell potentially lethal infections developing in his major organs is a constant reminder. A buildup of mucus, caused by a gene disorder, means breathing difficulties. Sufferers also face problems with their digestive system and struggle to put on weight.
“By the looks of me, obviously I don’t have a problem with digestion,” the 104 kg front rower said in a video posted on his personal website (nathancharles.com.au).
“I eat plenty but mostly it affects me with the lungs. It creates an extra mucus for the lungs and clogs up the airways a bit, but fortunately I look after myself and keep myself in tip-top shape so it doesn’t affect my on-field performance.”
Beating the disease has meant embracing it, rather than ignoring it or pretending it doesn’t exist. That has meant being a national ambassador for Cystic Fibrosis Australia, the country’s peak organisation fighting it, since 2010.
“Nathan ... initially, I think, kept (his CF) quiet because he was possibly a little bit embarrassed, didn’t want people to think it would hold him back,” his former Force coach Richard Graham said.
“But since he’s come out and made us aware of it, I think the kid has blossomed.”
The only CF sufferer playing top-flight rugby, Charles will battle long-serving hookers Stephen Moore and Tatafu Polota-Nau for spots in McKenzie’s matchday 23s against Les Bleus in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. AFP
