Milan Moses doesn’t like it when the weather changes.

Not because he doesn’t like colorful leaves or melting snow, but because it makes it hard to breathe; Moses has asthma.

Born in Waterloo, the freshman wideout was diagnosed with the disease early in life.

“Shortly after he was born, we took him to a doctor because he was wheezing and having trouble breathing — the kinds of things that go along with asthma — and they diagnosed him with it,” said Milan’s father, Jerry Moses. “We immediately wanted to make sure he could get the best care possible; it’s kind of a deadly disease.”

According to wrongdiagnosis.com, asthma contributes between 4,000 to 5,000 deaths a year in the United States. However, this is a small percentage of the millions of people who have the disease. With the proper treatment, asthma can be controlled, Jerry said.

“With treatment and medicine from his therapist, Milan was able to control it a whole lot better,” Jerry said.

Though Milan had learned to control his asthma, it eventually came time for him to leave home and go to grade school, something that worried his parents.

“We worried because a lot of people, especially teachers, don’t realize the severity of the disease, and whenever he needs to take a puff of the inhaler or a dose of medicine, he actually needs to take it,” Jerry said. “It was kind of hard to convince them to not question it and just give it to him.”

Milan’s early years of grade school through junior high were the worst for his asthma, and he had a few severe attacks, his father said.

“He had a couple of attacks where he actually had to go to the hospital and be treated there for a few days,” Jerry said. “It was usually ignited by a cold or something like that. We weren’t able to do anything with his medicines, so we had to take him to the emergency ward.”

“I can usually feel it coming before it happens,” Milan said. “It feels like you’re about to pass out and you can’t breathe at all.”

Jerry said Milan’s last attack was in early junior high. It was then that Milan found something that would help his asthma more than anything — sports.

Most parents may shudder at the thought of their asthmatic child engaging in any activity that involved heavy breathing, but Jerry and his wife, Shirley, didn’t want to hold Milan back from anything.

“We wanted to let him live just as normal a life as he wanted to, so we gave him free reign, but we still monitored him,” Jerry said.

But sometimes it wasn’t that easy for Jerry to just watch.

“It was nerve-wracking in junior high watching him play basketball where you run up and down the floor quite a bit without a break,” Jerry said. “I was usually pretty close to the bench, and sometimes I could actually see the middle part of his throat suck way in when he was breathing, and that’s when I would advise him to take a break and puff on his inhaler.”

As he got into high school, Milan became a star athlete. He started at guard for Waterloo East’s 2003 Class 4A state championship basketball team and was named team MVP of East’s football team his senior year. As for his asthma, it just kept getting better.

“Playing sports helped me, because it allowed my lungs to increase their capacity, and I can control my breathing better,” Milan said. “It’s been a blessing that I’ve been able to play sports with asthma, because a lot of kids can die from this.”

After high school, Milan chose to follow his father’s and brother J.J.’s footsteps in coming to Iowa State to play football.

Head coach Dan McCarney said he coaches Milan as hard as any other player, but he doesn’t take any chances.

“We don’t ever do anything athletically unless we have doctors and trainers around; they’re always right there, so that’s my security blanket,” McCarney said. “I’m not a doctor and I don’t pretend to be.”

With every year he ages, Milan said his symptoms decrease, but he knows that asthma can hit him at any time.

“The hardest thing is that you never know when it’s going to flare up,” Milan said. “Even now, it could come up at any time.”

Jerry said it’s become easier to watch Milan play sports, but the thought of an asthma attack is still in the back of his mind when Milan takes the field.

“He still has bouts with it, but it’s not like it was earlier in life; he’s kind of outgrown it,” Jerry said. “But the minute I say that, he could have an attack. It just pops up at inopportune times.”

Jerry said other young people should learn from Milan’s successes despite his disease.

“I hope Milan’s story and fight with asthma inspires other young people afflicted to go out and follow their dreams and do what they want to do physically,” Jerry said.

McCarney said the sky’s the limit for his young receiver — asthma or no asthma.

“It sure hasn’t held Milan back at all, and his career’s just beginning,” McCarney said. “He’s just scratching the surface of what kind of player he can be for us.”