July 15

Tyler belongs out in the ocean surfing, so we knew there was something wrong when he couldn’t get up on his board. Tyler’s strong, he’s healthy, he’s young. The thought of something being seriously wrong never even crossed our family’s mind. Maybe it was a vitamin deficiency, maybe some sort of minute spinal injury, or maybe just muscle spasms, something that could be easily fixed...nothing that didn’t have a cure.

In June, Tyler saw a general practitioner for his symptoms who ran a few tests. When those tests came back, she wanted Tyler to have a few MRIs done. And when she saw the alarming results from the muscle testing, she realized his case was out of her scope and referred Tyler to a neurologist. Even as the list of possible conditions started narrowing, we still never considered that Tyler’s diagnosis would be the worst-case scenario.

On July 15th, 2020, the neurologist ran an electromyogram that confirmed our greatest fear, and in that moment our world stopped. At the age of 26, our brother Tyler was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

When this process started in June, we never thought we’d be where we are today. It’s still hard for us to wrap our heads around the fact that this diagnosis is reality. And while we will never understand why or how this happened, we are clinging to the hope for a cure. For all the families that this wretched disease affects, but especially for our brother Tyler.