Tyson's early years went well except that he would not breast feed. He had a lot of ear infections and sometimes it seemed as if he were living on antibiotics. His development progressed slowly, but not as slow as his older brothers'. (Tyson has 2 older brothers, Jason and Keith with LMBBS). Tyson never gained the weight either.

At the time his older brothers were diagnosed with LMBBS it was felt that Tyson did not have the syndrome. He did not look like his older brothers, he was not overweight, did not have the extra fingers or toes, and did not need glasses.

At the age of 5 Tyson went to see an eye doctor because he seemed to be nearsighted and had night blindness. The doctor told his parents at this time that he did have LMBBS. It was a shock for his family, but his mother, Carol said she feels they already knew something was wrong, but had put off accepting it until they were ready.

Tyson has always been a basketball lover. He has played up until the fourth grade. At this time it became unsafe for him to play. He likes to watch all kinds of sports.

Tyson is very smart, especially in math. He is very social and really likes other people. He is stubborn and likes to have the last word! He is a "card"! Tyson loves to make people laugh and he loves to argue, but he does respect adults so his mother says that he has no behavior problem, just an ATTITUDE!

Tyson is now 12 years old. He has been putting on some weight recently, and now weighs 150 pounds. He is 5 feet 6 inches tall. Ty is learning some braille this year and doing well with it. He also takes mobility training for day and night traveling, computers and keyboarding. He tries hard in school and it shows in his grades. His GPA this semester was 3.5 on a 4 point scale!

Tyson is affected with Ataxia. His parents have watched as it slowly progressed since he was small. He is affected differently than his older brothers. Ty's upper body is more affected, his hands are weak to the point that he now does more keyboarding than writing. He has problems eating and swallowing so his food choices are limited. His speech has worsened and he tends to drool when concentrating. It is almost as if swallowing is not automatic for Ty.

He has very hyper mobile joints, (double-jointed), to the point of affecting his performance in small motor skills. All the muscles in his upper body a re weak. He cannot sit up straight for long anymore, he does not have the strength.

The family has moved to Idaho this past fall to get the boys into the blind school there. They have benefited greatly from this move!! They have easier access to everything they need. Ty is playing basketball again at the blind school so he is one happy camper!!

They live in the same town as the school so the boy come home every night. There is a residential program for families that live farther away.