Cahill, Who Suffers From Cystic Fibrosis, Has Made A Life Out Of Showing Young People What's Possible

By Brian Towey for DyeStat

After a 16-hour liver and kidneys transplant surgery July 22, Jerry Cahill was understandably tired. 

But while some friends shied away from showing up to his hospital room because of a myriad of protocols, another group showed up: the kids.

"They'd come with their mothers and they'd be like, 'Can I see your scar?'" Cahill said with a laugh. "Their mothers would be like, 'Don't ask him that.'"

After undergoing a double lung transplant in 2012, Cahill, who has Cystic fibrosis, a condition that causes damage to the lungs, digestive system and other organs, was listed this year for a new liver. But given that the liver works with the kidneys, he soon realized he would need kidney replacements as well.

"I didn't realize it but the liver and kidneys are major," Cahill said. "They filter all of your blood and everything." 

Cahill, 65, is a long-time pole vault coach in Westchester County, New York, where he has mentored athletes at Iona Prep and The Ursuline School for decades. 

On a 300-mile bike ride in June (Bike 2 Breathe) to raise funds for the Boomer Esiason Foundation, a Cystic fibrosis-patient advocating organization, things came to a head. Cahill had been retaining water, 30 pounds of it, and his system was failing by the time he reached the finish line.

He was taken to Columbia University's Irving Medical Center, where he regularly receives treatment for cystic fibrosis. 

"In order to receive the transplants I had to be fever-free for 14 days," Cahill explained. "I went 14 days, 18 days, on the 20th day the doctors said, 'We're going to activate you for a transplant.' I said, 'How long will it take (to receive the transplanted organs)?' My doctor said, 'I can't give you a time frame'. Normally it takes a couple of months."

Three hours later his doctors returned.

"We've found a donor."

By 11 p.m. that night he was in the waiting room preparing for surgery.

Unwilling To 'Sit'

Cahill was diagnosed with Cystic fibrosis at age 10, which is later than most patients when they find out.

"The doctors told my father, 'Just let him sit there,'" Cahill said. "They didn't think I was going to live." 

His father wasn't having it. He inserted Jerry into sports with his four brothers in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn. 

He played basketball, baseball and football, all with modest success. 

Then came cross country, and as a boy with Cystic fibrosis, he stood out.

"My teammates were like, 'Why are you coughing all the time?" Cahill said.

At one track meet he tried the pole vault. Immediately, he was hooked.

"They set the bar at six feet," Cahill recalled. "I couldn't do it. Then they put it down to three feet and I cleared it."

He jumped about 13 feet in high school, at Xaverian, then moved on to UConn. He continued jumping there, clearing a best of 14-6.

Cahill's obsession with the pole vault continued after college. He jumped at sub-Master's events for the New York Athletic Club. 

Ultimately, this led to coaching.

"I had a friend who was coaching at St. Anthony's on Long Island," Cahill said. "He told me there was a job open at Iona Prep."

It was a long drive, and he spent hours driving his car each day, but it was worth it.

"I have a very strong relationship with Iona Prep," Cahill said. "I believe it's very important to pass on the knowledge I've learned."

Cahill has coached at Iona Prep for 33 years and The Ursuline School, an all-girls Catholic school, for 30 years. The schools are separated by a mile and both located in New Rochelle.

"One of the biggest reasons why (his relationship with Iona Prep) works is because he has more of an aggressive coaching style," said Louis Logsdail, a former vaulter for Cahill at Iona Prep (and now for Lehigh University). "It was good for an all-boys school because he taught us never to back down from anything.

"In the pole vault, it gets in your head. You're jumping at the higher heights, knowing that if you miss you're not going to land on one of the softer parts of the mat. In the pole vault, that's what it takes. He made sure we were physically and mentally tough."

As a coach he is resolute. By turns meticulous and fierce, his athletes agree that what makes Cahill special is that he comes across as not only a coach, but a friend.

"If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be in the position I'm in today," said Ryan Herrera-Murphy, an Iona Prep grad who pole vaulted for the Naval Academy. "I was going through a lot of things in high school. He was there for it all. Whenever I had a problem he'd say, 'Ryan it's just another bump in the road. Just go to the next thing. I carry that with me to this day."

As a coach, he's inspired his athletes through a mix of tenderness and strength.

"My senior year (of high school) we set goals: college recruitment, a state championship, breaking the 16-foot barrier," said Greg Gallagher, a former Iona Prep and College of William and Mary vaulter. "Before he had the lung transplant, he knew he wasn't going to be around for my senior outdoor season. So he found a coach who could coach me -- his coach (Al Berardi)."

'Seeing Is Believing'

Cystic fibrosis has given Cahill a unique vantage point on life.

He is an outsized advocate for Cystic fibrosis sufferers with the Boomer Esiason Foundation (The former NFL quarterback's son, Gunnar, has Cystic fibrosis).

"People who see me with Cystic fibrosis say, 'God, I feel lazy,' Cahill said. "'I've got to get out there and exercise.' The average life span for (someone with) CF is 40-42 years old. People see me and they're like, 'What the hell?' What has this guy done?'"

In surmounting his second surgery, Cahill is hoping to inspire others who may be hesitant to take the next step.

"(My goal is) to empower people because there are a lot of people who are afraid to get a transplant, people with CF and other diseases." 

It's an act that's transcended generations. 

Herrera-Murphy and Charles Crispi, another Cahill vaulter who attended the Naval Academy, were approached at the Army-Navy meet by Ken Kleinschittger, who'd graduated from Iona Prep in 1994 (and also competed for the Academy).

"Do you know Jerry Cahill?" Kleinschittger said.

"There have been multiple guys who've said 'Coach Cahill showed me it was possible' with their training with his work ethic and determination," Crispi said. 

Edging towards recovery, Cahill is documenting his journey in a video called "To the Brink and Back".

"I had a lung transplant," Cahill said. "Going into the liver and kidney transplant it was almost like going to the end and back.

"I never thought I'd get through this surgery. Number one it was very different. They don't often do it. They told me they don't do it very often, but you have such will power that we're going to give it a shot."

His doctors have been thrilled with his progress. As with the lung transplant, recovery is an arduous day-by-day process. The good news is that a recent biopsy showed no signs or rejection or infections. 

Cahill shot pictures of himself on a walker shortly after surgery, and then smiled with his young visitors in a hospital gown.

"He always rises to the occasion," Herrera-Murphy said. "I have no doubt he'll be back soon doing what he loves and coaching."

Then there is the matter of the kids who have CF, like him. He thrives on being strong for them, an inspiration and a connection.

And despite all the weighty matters at hand, he knows this is a population he can reach. His volunteer work with the Boomer Esiason Foundation includes speaking to groups.

"I talk to high school seniors," Cahill said. "Their parents know who I am, but they don't. I ask them, 'What kinds of medication do you take?' They say, 'You want to know what kind?' I say, 'Yeah, I have CF, too'.

"With kids, seeing is believing. You can't have a doctor tell them to exercise. They need to see it for themselves."