I got to meet Steve through Harold W. “Bill” Kohl III, an amazing professor and epidemiologist at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.
Bill found me after having back surgery. He was looking for help with his back pain, which at times was severe and somewhat debilitating. Even though the reason he came to me was serious, we hit it off pretty quickly. We used to joke around a lot, and no matter how much I tortured him during our sessions, I would usually receive a text later in the day telling me how the work we did made him feel better, how much he appreciated it, and how happy he was with the progress we were making.
I believe the most famous quote from Bill would be, “Dammit Sean, I’m running out of things to squeeze here,” as I was coaching him through a particularly challenging move. That was Bill. Brilliant, funny, direct, and always able to make a hard moment feel a little lighter.
But our relationship was never just about training. We often talked about recent research and what it meant for him, for me, or for others. We talked about what was missing, what could be done better, and how we should do our own research someday. We would have made a perfect team.
I used to talk to him about Durango and how much I love it there for hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and just being outside. It wasn’t long after those talks that he got a place outside of Denver that checked all those boxes. He was excited about retirement and doing all these things, and it shaped our training. My job, as he always reminded me, was to get him back in shape to do those things.
And we were making progress.
But it never came to fruition, as he passed in December two years ago from a heart attack.
It was a shock. He was an amazingly brilliant man who influenced many others to shine bright. I can’t speak enough about him and how he helped shape who I am today. Bill is yet another reason I do what I do.
I miss him.
One thing that came out of my time with Bill was meeting Steve, who also works in the same department and is equally brilliant and amazing. I would often hear how Steve and Bill would joke around at work and the names they had for each other, which I won’t repeat, but let’s just say they involved a body part in the mid-region.
Steve has CMT, a genetic peripheral nerve condition that can slow or weaken nerve signals to the feet and lower legs, making strength, balance, walking, and endurance more challenging over time.
So we came up with a plan after some time and after going through relevant research, looking at how we could best support his function and challenge the progression as much as possible, using a more science-heavy approach filtered through a lot of training experience. We had setbacks, but Steve is always up for the challenge. I would say he is doing much better, and we are hitting our milestones at a very steady rate that fits into his lifestyle.
He is traveling soon and will be walking a lot, and that has been our goal for a while now.
We will see how it goes, but it is looking very promising.
Everyone’s goals are different, and they are meaningful to them. I will do my best to help Steve continue to challenge his CMT as we plan on going to Durango at some point for some hikes.
Maybe he will be the one streaming curses at me, which will only validate that his training is working and sound like music to my ears.
Steve picked up where Bill left off and has done a lot. He asked me to help build a gym in their department and used a lot of his own money, as well as talked a few others into doing the same. Now there is a fantastic gym in that department where I spend time torturing him on a regular basis.
But Steve and I have bigger plans.
We want to continue building on Bill’s idea and bring health and longevity research to the individual level.
We both miss Bill. A lot.
This is the Bill I remember most: brilliant, funny, generous, and never too serious to make the people around him laugh.
Harold William Kohl III, PhD
1960-2024
We wanted to visit him at his place in Colorado to go hiking, probably just to hear him unleash a continuous string of curses at both of us.
This story is just starting.