April 26, 2007

By STEVE MATTHIES
H&N Sports Writer

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore - Ethan and Caleb Howard are doing quite well on the track.

Ethan, an Oregon Tech junior, is close to qualifying for the NAIA national track and field championships in the men's 5,000-meter race walk.

Caleb, a Lakeview senior, currently has the top Class 2A 1,500-meter time in Oregon. He also has the second fastest 800 and sixth-best 3,000 this season.

That's not bad, considering both are legally blind.

"We have a genetically linked form of juvenile macular degeneration," Ethan Howard said. "The name for it is stargart's disease. Somewhere back a ways (in the family), somebody had it."

Ethan was diagnosed while a freshman in high school. His younger brother was in elementary school.

"I can see peripherally," Ethan said. "To go and see something, to focus on it directly, it's cloudy. Neither of us can drive. It's what got us into running."

The elder of the two played high school football. They still play a little catch, but nothing serious.

"I can catch a football, but I can't read a chalkboard. When I read books, I have to get closer to the pages," Ethan said, bringing his hand to within inches of his eyes to demonstrate his reading distance.

"We're legally blind, but far from being completely blind. I tell friends they'd be surprised at what I can see and what I can't see."

Males usually have lesser degrees of the disease than do females, and neither's degeneration has gotten worse since it was diagnosed.

"We have both handled it differently," Caleb Howard said. "I was determined to not let it get me down. I've had more time to adapt, and my teammates have been really understanding."

So have Ethan's.

It has taken the OIT junior time to get used to being told, on road trips, that it was his turn to drive. Several OIT athletes said that was their way of letting him know he was part of them.

"You just don't let it bother you," Caleb said. "We got mixed answers from doctors, but we were told to avoid a lot of sunlight," Ethan said. "It was also suggested we use visual aids, but we have tried to adapt to the rest of the world as best we can so we don't have to use many visual aids."

Distance running has become a friendly athletic outlet for the youngest of three brothers. Jacob, the oldest, does not have the disease.

"Marla Runyon (a world-class female distance runner) had the exact same disorder, except that her vision was a little worse than ours," Ethan said.

Getting around town is not as difficult as it may seem, either. Both get plenty of help from friends.

"Plus," Caleb said, "Lakeview is so small that you can get anywhere by bike. I would like to stay in Lakeview. I've had to choose things I can do and am thinking about pharmacy.

"Both of my parents (Jeff and Melinda) are, plus my grandpa and great-grandpa both were pharmacists," the youngest Howard said, adding that Jacob also is in the business.

That's a vision he can hang onto.