<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Hemophilia doesn’t slow down district golf champ Ben Gruher

Union golfer needs as many as three injections a week to control condition

By , Columbian Sports Editor
Published:
5 Photos
Union golfer Ben Gruher swings a golf club at Camas Meadows Golf Course Thursday October 8, 2015.
Union golfer Ben Gruher swings a golf club at Camas Meadows Golf Course Thursday October 8, 2015. (Natalie Behring/The Columbian) Photo Gallery

When Ben Gruher defends his 4A district golf title this week, he might face a high-pressure putt or a nasty lie in the rough.

Just don’t expect him to be rattled.

Since before he was 10, Gruher has had to inject himself at least three times a week with medicine to treat a severe form of hemophilia. At an age when kids are figuring out puzzles or action figures, he was learning to plunge a syringe into a vein in his arm.

Golf? That’s child’s play.

But through golf, the junior at Union High School has become an ambassador of sorts for other youths with hemophilia, a condition characterized by the blood’s inability to clot.

Every year, Gruher travels to Arizona for a golf and baseball event that gathers young hemophiliacs from around the nation. Hosted by pro golfer Perry Parker, Gruher was invited last year to speak as an alumnus of an event he first played at age 7.

“I feel that’s a really good way to get to know more hemophiliacs and give back to the community, because they’ve given me so much through that event,” Gruher said after a golf match last week.

By 10, Gruher had won two dozen youth tournaments and competed against kids from around the world. His story was featured by the National Hemophilia Foundation as an example of someone who isn’t limited by his condition.

Not much has changed in the seven years since. Yes, Gruher has sprouted to 6-foot-3 after growing seven inches in the past two years. But he’s still really good at golf. And he still doesn’t let hemophilia slow him down.

“Honestly, I never think about hemophilia,” Gruher said. “I’ve done infusions for so long that it’s just another poke. It’s a pain, but when I’m playing golf, hemophilia doesn’t come into my mind at all. I’m really thankful for that.”

mobile phone icon
Take the news everywhere you go.
Download The Columbian app:
Download The Columbian app for Android on Google PlayDownload The Columbian app for iOS on the Apple App Store

A perfect sport

Ben’s parents, Jim and Monica Gruher, knew something wasn’t right when their first child was 8 months old. As baby Ben learned to crawl, large long-lasting bruises would appear.

Eventually, a blood test diagnosed Ben with a severe form of Hemophilia A, a hereditary condition that occurs in about 1 in 5,000 males, according to the National Hemophilia Foundation.

If hemophilia is left untreated, cuts can bleed until blood loss becomes a danger. But the more common concern is internal bleeding that can come from something like a sprained ankle or minor collision.

Gruher was prescribed medication that bolsters his blood’s ability to clot. He takes it intravenously at least three times a week and every other day during golf season.

Contact sports are typically off limits for hemophiliacs. Gruher stopped playing basketball in the fourth grade when the game became too physical. But he has always loved golf since he first picked up a plastic club as a 3 year old.

The game came naturally. At 5, he shot 50 for nine holes despite using just a 7-iron and a putter.

By 9, Gruher was regularly competing in and winning tournaments. He finished 13th out 150 kids in his age group at the U.S. Kids Golf World Championships in Pinehurst, N.C.

“He never gets too high or too low,” Jim Gruher said. “If he hits it out of bounds, he doesn’t like it, but he doesn’t freak out about it either.”

Hemophilia doesn’t affect Gruher on the course. But he sometimes gets bleeding within his muscles or joints that cause discomfort. When he extends his leg at the knee, a pop is heard from fluid left over from a bleeding episode in January.

He now plays the majority of his golf during the summers, including several events with the Oregon Junior Golf Association. But a highlight of his sophomore high school season was winning the 4A district title by one stroke over Brian Humphreys, a Camas senior who won the state title as a freshman and placed second as a sophomore.

Earlier this season, Gruher beat Humphreys in a playoff to win the Jeff Hudson Invitational at the same Tri-Mountain course that will host districts on Monday and Tuesday.

“Brian and I are probably going to be pretty close,” Gruher said of his friend. “I respect his game and he respects mine. We’ll see who comes out on top, but it’s going to be really fun.”

Union golf coach Gary Mills sees the effort Gruher devotes to golf.

“Some people are born to be great at a sport,” Mills said. “But in golf, you have to make yourself great. He’s very driven and very goal-oriented.”

And that drive means never letting hemophilia grab the wheel.

“He has never once complained about having hemophilia,” Jim Gruher said. “He never uses it as an excuse.”

Loading...