Flaherty family affair: William joins Charles in Olympic fraternity
Ski & Snowboard Club Vail athlete will represent Puerto Rico at Olympics
Imagine being a young child living in Puerto Rico, taking annual family ski vacations two weeks each year to Beaver Creek, equipped with a private ski instructor. These are certainly the moments that dreams are made of; exchanging sand castles for a snowy slope for family fun.
Fast forward not once, but twice for the Flaherty family, who splits their life between their full-time residence in Puerto Rico and a home in Edwards, Colorado to take these precious memories, dream big, and produce two sons who represent their country of Puerto Rico at the Olympics. That is the story for Charles Flaherty, who paved the way to an appearance at Pyeongchang in 2018 and his younger brother William, headed off to Beijing to represent Puerto Rico in 2022.
It was an extraordinary path for Charles. William’s journey is riddled with even more twists and turns most of us cannot even imagine overcoming. It all started when Ann Flaherty, while tackling the day-to-day joys and challenges of raising two young sons in a midwestern suburbian home, noticed that the whites of her 5-year-old son William’s eyes had gone yellow. On a moment’s notice, life took an unexpected turn.
Tests revealed that William had liver failure caused by hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, an extremely rare immune deficiency disorder in which the immune system doesn’t switch off as it should. The disease can be genetic or acquired, but both are deadly without early and aggressive treatment.
Left unchecked, his immune system, which had started attacking his liver and bone marrow, could have gone to his brain or lungs. The illness facing William would alter his and his family’s lives from that point forward.
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Older brother Charles stepped forward to donate the much-needed bone marrow transplant that saved William’s life. William moved forward, embracing the cards of life dealt to him. This article could dwell on the trauma of this life-changing childhood illness, but it will not, because William does not — nor does his family.
Fast forward to the winter of 2014-2015, with William in remission, and the Flaherty family finding themselves spending five months living in the Vail Valley and William and Charles joining Ski & Snowboard Club Vail. They had learned all that they could from Mike Williams, their long time ski instructor in Beaver Creek, (and ironically the grandfather of an SSCV ski racing alumna) who encouraged them to take on ski racing as their next on-snow challenge.
Charles went on to train with a private ski coach after a year in SSCV’s Youth Ski League Program to more quickly close the skills gap that exists when someone takes on ski racing at an older age. Only 10, William fully embraced his experience as a first year U12 at SSCV, making many new friends and growing stronger and healthier with each dryland session and every turn on snow.
“The physical impact that the sport had on William’s still healing body was incredible. With bone marrow densities skyrocketing, William’s stamina coming back and his mental fortitude is an inspiration to the entire family”, Ann said.
The Flaherty family took well to mountain living, and William and his brother Charles began to dream beyond the two week ski vacations in Beaver Creek. They dreamed the biggest dream one can dream in the sport of ski racing: to represent their country, Puerto Rico, in the pinnacle of their sport — the Olympics.
Being a resident of Puerto Rico didn’t mean a guaranteed, easy path to the Games. FIS points still needed to be chased and criteria still needing to be met. Olympic federations had to be formed. Those barriers represent just the tip of the iceberg of what every member of the Flaherty contributed to in the boys competing in the Olympics. More importantly, years and years of countless training hours, the pre-requisite work necessary for any Olympian, regardless of birth country, were invested by both Charles and William. A spectator at the last Olympics, cheering his big brother on from the sidelines, 2022 is William’s turn to be on the big stage.
Those who know William know he is a kind, levelheaded, quiet leader who balances life between two countries, two homes, two sets of friends and the lingering physical side effects that crop up from the things his body fought off as a child. Corrective surgeries are not foreign to him nor are ongoing measures to keep his energy in balance and his mental state positive.
The family has gone through a lot, including the loss of their dad suddenly a few years back. But William’s constant smile and trademark, playful giggle, whether working hard to maintain his straight-A average in online school (which he supplements with Winter Tutorial while in Vail in the winters), beating down gates on Golden Peak or working hard in the gym, are the signs of a true winner.
William stated, “A lot of what I have accomplished in life is about “stick-to-it-ness. I have made great friends both here and in Puerto Rico and they have supported me in every step of my journey and for that I am very grateful.”
When asked what is next after the Olympics, William stated, “I will do a few more races, including Junior Worlds, finish off my senior year, have another surgery that was delayed until after the ski season because it involves removing a bone from my leg and relocating it to my jaw, take a gap year and then head off to college.”
That’s not all.
“My goal is to become an aerospace engineer. I have developed a love for skiing and it will always be a passion of mine, but it will be time to hang up my GS suit and race skis and join the world of recreational skiers,” William said.
William and his mom have spent the past several weeks sequestered to avoid the risks of contracting COVID-19 before the Olympics.
Regardless of the results in China, William is a gold medalist in every sense of the word.
