SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) - As Tyler Shelley runs around his apartment pestering his older siblings, he seems just like any other high-spirited 11-year-old boy.
But in 2011 Tyler was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, a rare and terminal condition that has caused other unknown diseases to make him critically ill at times.
So Tyler’s family is helping him check off items on his bucket list - or “wish list,” as they call it - which includes swimming with dolphins, going to the beach and meeting the cast members of NCIS.
On the last day of March, he got a surprise visit from someone wanting to help with another item on the list, handing out Bibles to children.
Former University of South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore dropped by Tyler’s home with 28 Bibles to help him get started on fulfilling his wish.
Lattimore told Tyler he was inspired by the boy’s desire to hand out Bibles and “spread the love” to others.
“You’re making the difference,” Lattimore told Tyler. “And you’re going to make a difference in a lot of people’s lives.”
Lattimore said he kept asking himself how could someone coping with a life-threatening disease could have such a selfless mindset.
“It’s just powerful,” Lattimore said. “It’s a message everyone should hear. It’s a message everyone should know about. If everybody had that type of mindset, the world would be a better place.”
Tyler’s prognosis is unclear right now because so much is unknown, said Amy Shelley, Tyler’s mom Doctors are learning more about mitochondrial disease, and that has expanded life expectancies, but there’s still a lot they don’t understand, she said.
“The easiest way to explain (the disease) is you take your car battery out and you replace it with two AA batteries. It’s not going to run,” Shelley said. “The mitochondria are what make your body run, so when you’re got a defect or deficiency of them, it doesn’t run appropriately.”
There are numerous diseases within that category, Shelley said, and doctors have never been able to diagnose Tyler.
“At one point it felt like every time we went into a doctor’s office we were getting a new diagnosis,” Shelley said. “Now, not so much, but we’re struggling with these sets of symptoms and we don’t have a confirmed diagnosis. We don’t know what it is, but we know if it happens again, it could be even worse. So that makes it hard.”
Recently, Tyler was hospitalized with life-threatening symptoms. Typically, Shelley said, she’s been able to remain calm, but this last bout had her worried.
“This is now the fourth time he’s gone through this with similar symptoms,” Shelley said. “With this latest incident, we know it’s a life-threatening illness. We’re hoping we eventually get a diagnosis and a treatment plan.”
In the meantime, Tyler continues to cross off items on his wish list. His family is working hard to keep each item a secret until it’s time to go, but on March 31 Tyler found out he was going to Charleston the next day.
He went to each of his siblings - Brycen, 15; Kailey, 17; and Michaela, 18 - and asked them, “Where are we going? I don’t like secrets. Tell me where we’re going.”
The most important item on Tyler’s list is being a police officer with the New York City Police Department. Tyler said his school resource officer at Woodland Heights has been a good influence, and he wants to be a police officer too so he can help people.
“Helping the community is the main thing,” Tyler said.
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Information from: Herald-Journal, https://www.goupstate.com/
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