CLEARWATER, Fla. — Jason Denton is grateful to be getting back to his golf game at the Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Course.

“It feels amazing. I missed it for so long.”

Denton missed golfing and other activities he loved, such as mountain biking and scuba diving, because he was recently treated for a rare disorder. In 2020, Denton started suffering from several symptoms, including coughing.

“I would get winded really easy, then I started losing my voice in the evenings,” said Denton.

It wasn’t COVID-19 or asthma.

“For a while I thought it was maybe something wrong with my heart,” said Denton.

For about two years, the 45-year-old didn’t know what was wrong.

“It was pretty scary,” said Denton.

Denton’s symptoms were getting worse, but he finally got answers.

“They found narrowing of my airway, so it kind of caught me off guard,” said Denton.

He was diagnosed with a rare disorder called subglottic stenosis, which occurs in about one in every 400,00 people.

Otolaryngologist Head and Neck Surgeon Dr. Yassmeen Abdel-Aty at USF Health treated Denton.

“Open up the scar tissue,” said Abdel-Aty. “The surgery is all in and out through the mouth, there’s not a lot of downtime.”

Abdel-Aty, who is associated with Tampa General Hospital, performed Denton’s procedure there in December 2022. The specialist, who boasts being part of a team unique to the Bay area, stresses new treatment techniques are key.

“Now, we use a laser and we open up little wedges of this so that we’re not causing trauma that goes all the way around, and we also inject steroids at the time of surgery,” explained Abdel-Aty. “And if necessary, we can use a balloon to dilate that area.”

The procedure has made a huge difference to Denton.

“I feel like I got my lifestyle back. It’s hard to explain the feeling you get when many things you enjoy doing kind of get taken from you,” he said.

“Now, I feel like I can do whatever I want,” said Denton, who is excited about getting back to life, excited about getting back to the green.