“What you have, does not define what you become”: This is what Noah Lyles had in reserve for an X post that came after winning the 100-meter gold medal in Paris. Having been diagnosed with six major health conditions—asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and depression—going got tough. Lyles was only three when he first experienced symptoms related to asthma. By the time he was seven, he had coughing fits and surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids!

If it wasn’t for his mother who stayed up for countless nights, his quality of life would have looked very different. Most Mondays, Noah was nowhere to be found in school, considering how he needed time to recover from races run over the weekend. Appearing on the Got it From My Momma podcast, Keisha Caine Bishop, who is an inspirational orator and a professional life counselor, was invited for a podcast interview (released on Aug 6) around the same time he won his first Olympic gold medal.

Keisha confessed that the thought of him becoming an Olympic champion barely crossed her mind because she “just wanted him to be the best Noah we could make him out to be,” even if this came at the cost of concealing his diagnosis till the right moment. The 10x NCAA All-American & a 9x Big East Conference champion recalled, “When he first got diagnosed with ADD [Now referred to as ADHD], he didn’t even know it ’cause I didn’t tell him.”

Although Lyles was diagnosed with ADHD early in middle school, it wasn’t until an opportune moment that arrived much later that Noah’s younger brother Josephus told him one day. “He was like dude, you have ADD.” At the time, an innocent Noah’s reaction was, “I have ADD. What is ADD?”

“I say, ‘Okay, I’m gonna tell you what ADD is. It’s like it’s a superpower. Because you think outside the box, and you’re very creative… but every superpower has a weakness.

‘So, the weakness is that it’s very hard for you to sit still. It’s hard to focus sometimes. Traditional schooling can be challenging. But what we’re gonna do is give you all the tools and all the resources to help you make your weakness stronger, and in doing that, we are going to help you be the best Noah you can be.‘”

Well, Keisha Cane did everything possible for Noah Lyles to be the best version of himself. She recalled how his Asthma not only gave him a ‘barking cough’ or coughing fits but kept him up many nights. And whenever he struggled to sleep, in the middle of the night, she would hold him up so he could breathe. And that’s when she would promise him, “I know this is a very hard time right now, but your life is not gonna always be like this.”

But beyond everything she could do for him, it was his relentless drive that has made him an Olympic Champion today. And well, Kiesha Caine agrees. When the podcast host asked her if his grit and determination to be an elite athlete were naturally ingrained in him, here’s what she answered.

Noah Lyles’ asthma battle hardened him

Keisha Caine agrees that Noah Lyles was naturally wired as someone who was resolute in whatever he did. “It had to be there, ’cause you can’t really teach that, it’s like an X factor,” she justified that his determination was like an in-built power. However, she feels that his trait of perseverance may have come into being because of asthma.

When he was a toddler, she would promise him that they will figure out a way to manage his respiratory condition. She remembers resorting to medical processes like getting an adenoidectomy, a tonsillectomy. But, despite going above and beyond, he still has asthma for its an irreversible condition. However, today, its better maintained and his immune system is way stronger than before.

But, the suffering seems to have worked on a deeper level in Noah Lyles’ life, per his mother. She opined, “I think him experiencing all of that adversity when he was young and coming out on the other side, he has learned that yeah, things may be hard sometimes but it’s just a season, its not gonna last.” Do you agree that asthma made Noah Lyles mentally resilient too? Share what you think below