By Chris Hughes
SouthernPigskin.com

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Zack Cole is attracting interest from colleges and defies odds to star in the Shrine Bowl.

It’s always an honor for a player to be selected to represent his state in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas, but for Zack Cole of Patton High School in Morganton, N.C., the game means so much more.

Cole understands the impact that the Shriners Hospitals have on the lives and health of children because he was once a patient at the Shriners Hospital in Greenville.

Cole was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, a condition that occurs when the fetus becomes entangled in fibrous, string-like bands in the womb, restricting blood flow and affecting the baby’s development.

He was sent to the Greenville unit of the Shriners Hospital immediately after birth and went through seven grueling surgeries during the first eight years of his life.

When Cole was just three years old, more adversity struck in his life. His mother was killed in car accident by a drunk driver so his aunt Holly McLaughlin and her husband, a North Carolina Highway Patrolman, Shannon McLaughlin adopted him and became his legal guardians.
“I don’t look at them as my guardians, they treat me as their own son” Cole said. “I call them mom and dad.”
Shannon McLaughlin is amazed at the strength that Zack has displayed his entire life.

“He’s lived with the looks and the comments from others,” McLaughlin said. “He’s never looked at his condition as a disability; he just fights with the uniform he’s issued with.”
Cole has shown the ability to fight through obstacles and overcome any shortcomings he may have been born with. Not only has thrived at the game of football while missing fingers from his hands, he runs a 4.5 40-yard dash while missing both big toes.

His quickness and athleticism has not only earned him a spot on the North Carolina Shrine Bowl team, but it has also gained attention from several college football programs. He will take official visits in January to East Carolina, Lenoir-Rhyne, and Wofford. Elon has also shown an interest in his talents.

Cole, who is the first player in the history of the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas to be a former patient in the Shriners Hospital, hopes to one day help patients just as he was.

He hopes to major in chemistry and pre-med and become an anesthesiologist. He’s carried a 3.6 GPA all through high school.