Coach gambles on unproven stem cell therapy

Jeff Dienhart took a deep breath. Painfully. The tubes from his oxygen tank shifted slightly near his nostrils as he began to speak.

"I was originally diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of 17," Dienhart said matter-of-factly. "At that time, life expectancy for someone with my disease was to live into your early 20s."

At 44, Dienhart, an assistant coach for the Lafayette Central Catholic Knights girls basketball team, long ago beat those odds.

He crouched forward and struggled to take another deep breath, no longer able to hide an illness he used to be embarrassed about.

Central Catholic assistant girls basketball coaches Jeff Dienhart, foreground, and Dave Crandall watch the action as the Knights host Guerin Catholic on Jan. 30. It was the first game for Dienhart in quite a while, as he had spent the better part of the month of January in the hospital. Dienhart is set to receive stem cell treatment in the Dominican Republic to hopefully assist in his battle with cystic fibrosis. (Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier)

"Basically, his day is: Wake up, take care of himself and go to basketball," said his son, Drew Dienhart.

The coach has defied other statistics as well. The odds suggest, for example, that many men with cystic fibrosis are infertile, yet Dienhart fathered two children.

Nor are CF sufferers supposed to be able to play marathon rounds of golf.

"I would tell the doctor he played 36 holes of golf in 90-degree heat," said Dienhart's mother, Kathy Dienhart. "The doctor would tell me I made that up. My husband and I came to the conclusion that he is a fighter. Odds don't mean anything to him."

All of which may go some way toward explaining why Dienhart now is preparing to take the riskiest gamble of his life to try to extend his life before the inexorable slow-motion suffocation of cystic fibrosis finally takes its toll.

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Coach gambles on unproven stem cell therapy