LARAMIE  –  On most mornings, depending on the snow and ice situation along the route, Mike Cotterman still makes the commute to the University of Wyoming athletic facilities, a routine he used to do on a bicycle, prepared to do the same job he has done for two decades.
 
Now Cotterman, UW's director of performance for Olympic sports and women's basketball, transports himself to work in a wheelchair.
 
The natural emotional state of someone in this situation would be to dwell on your own misfortune. Why me?
 
Cotterman faced the cruel irony of being diagnosed with an extremely rare degenerative muscle disease, inclusion body myositis (IBM), after dedicating his professional life to helping hundreds of Cowboys and Cowgirls peak physically in their respective sports.
 
There is no cure for IBM, which has sapped Cotterman of his lower body strength.
 
"It took me a long time to accept that there's really nothing I can do. So, I started looking at it like, I can be glass half empty or I can be glass half full," Cotterman said. "Nobody wants to be around a pessimist. If I am looking for any kind of help or assistance or support or anything, nobody wants to be around that person. I have to be able to say, this is me, this is where I'm at, I can't do anything about it, I've got to make the most of what I have.
 
"As soon as I decided I wanted to look at that world that way, then my mental wellness and my mental outlook changed. From then on I've tried to pour everything I can into everybody else around me and do as much as I can while I can. I've got to be grateful for what I have. Something like this reminds you of what you have. Sometimes you have to get it taken away to appreciate it."
 
As his body began failing, Cotterman found the tenacity to carry on with his work that has inspired those who spend so much time around him behind the scenes while preparing for the spotlight of games. He is a beloved fixture in the High Altitude Performance Center and the Arena-Auditorium.
 
"We talk about our Cowgirl toughness and what better example than Coach C," head women's basketball coach Heather Ezell said. "I think the biggest thing is he comes to work every day and you never hear him complain, you never hear him using an excuse, and I hope that our players see that and understand that's what we talk about every day when we talk about having toughness, coming ready to work and never having an excuse because he lives it every day."
 
Cotterman was the head strength and conditioning coordinator at Drake before starting at UW in 2005. His wife, Gwen, also worked in the athletic department when the couple moved to Laramie and she is currently the senior academic advising coordinator for the university's division of kinesiology and health.
 
In 2014 Cotterman received the highest honor in his profession when he was awarded the title of Master Strength & Conditioning Coach from the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association.
 
The thrill of competition and the satisfaction of helping young people achieve their dreams are the aspects of the job that drives Cotterman.
 
"It's the ones you make an impression on and make them a better man or woman by the time they leave than they were before they walked in the door," Cotterman said. "When you make an impact on a person it's much more long-lasting and meaningful than if you just make an impact on the profession."
 
IBM has changed the daily lives of Cotterman's family. Leaning on Gwen, as well as his daughter and two sons, as caregivers has been bittersweet.
 
"I'm no longer able to do certain things and I need somebody to either help me do them or do them for me, which is difficult because I'm always a DIYer. I do it myself, I've got it," Cotterman said. "Hopefully, what they've seen from me is resiliency and grit and stick with it and make the best of what you have. Yeah, you don't have the best of this but make the best of what you've got in this situation."
 
In January, a GoFundMe was set up by Denise Kennedy on behalf of Cotterman to help with daunting medical expenses, specifically requiring a state-of-the-art wheelchair, a bathroom remodel to accommodate a zero-entry shower, a wheelchair-accessible ramp, and a vehicle that can support his mobility needs.
 
"That's the funny thing about insurance is it will help cover you if you have an issue. But my issue is so rare they don't even recognize it," Cotterman said. "They can very easily say we'll give you 10 percent of what you need to get something you probably can't afford otherwise. For anybody to be able to help me accommodate the accommodations I need is so amazing."
 
A total of 298 people donated to assist Cotterman with the costs of his new reality. A total of $50,550 of its initial goal of $60,000 has been raised to date.
 
Many of the contributions came from notable UW student-athletes, past and present, Cotterman has trained.
 
"Super crazy. Shocking," Cotterman said of the support. "It kind of goes back to why you do this. You start seeing the names of people popping up like, oh my gosh I haven't trained them in 10 years or talked to them in eight years or whatever. Of course, you remember the names. To see them reach out and say, hey, we've got you, we appreciate everything you've done. I received everything from a donation to a letter to an email to a phone call to a text from people you haven't heard from in a long time. …
 
"That outpouring is meaningful."
 
Cotterman first noticed something was not right when he started having balance issues and tripping over things he would not normally trip over. He lost strength in his hip flexors and was having trouble getting out of chairs or climbing stairs. He is starting to lose some grip strength but can open doors. The debilitating loss of muscle mass is mostly in the lower half of his body at this point.
 
"It was a slow oncoming thing," said Cotterman, who still has good core strength but can only walk short distances with assistance. "It wasn't like you wake up one day and all of a sudden your feet don't work."
 
Cotterman went to a doctor who sent him to a neurologist. The IBM diagnosis was made following a muscle biopsy.
 
There are no treatments available, but there is no pain as the disease, which may affect between five and nine out of every million adults, advances.

"The hard part for me is there is nothing you can do," Cotterman said. "It's going to progress, it will probably continue with the same symptoms you have and it's going to get worse. So, it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I have to accept that."
 
When Cotterman is on the court warming up basketball players or in the weight room training Olympic athletes it's business as usual. He leans on his expertise from spending 25 years in the field to instruct athletes even when he can't physically demonstrate techniques.
 
"Being around those high achieving people continues to keep me pushing to be high achieving. As opposed to, I'm done, I can't do this anymore and just fade away both mentally and physically," Cotterman said. "Being here and being able to do this is so important to my mental and physical well-being. That's how much it helps."
 
Cotterman knows the disease will continue to take more from him. He also knows what remain as he does whatever it takes to make the commute to work – the opportunity impact UW student-athletes.
 
Malene Pedersen, an all-Mountain West senior guard for the Cowgirls, has benefited from Cotterman's savvy strength and conditioning program while witnessing the toll the disease has taken on his body.

The daily battle has not altered Cotterman's significant contributions to the UW athletic department.
 
"It's very meaningful and it touches us all so much, especially myself because I've been here four years and I've seen his peak at the beginning when I got here and how dedicated he is in his work," Pedersen said. "He has good and bad days like we all do but we all know his are so different and he has so much on his chest. I think it's so inspiring how he got back into it and how dedicated he still is.
 
"He's still the same guy he has always been since I've been here. He's the best."
 
If you would like to contribute to the GoFundMe in support of Cotterman click here.
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.
 
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