6-year-old stroke victim called ‘walking miracle’
Published: May 4, 2007
Tyler tries to rush recovery so he can get back to school
A first-grader can have a stroke.
Tyler Cormany’s mother - a juvenile detention center supervisor who once worked in nursing - didn’t know that, but she recognized that’s what was happening April 18 when her son collapsed at Lakewood Elementary School.
Julie Cormany said she doesn’t usually walk into school with her 6-year-old son, but that morning, the mom inside her told her that she should.
Tyler was being just a little bit difficult, which wasn’t characteristic for him. But since his diabetic father died of a heart attack almost four weeks ago, the mother has been sensitive to his moods.
A few minutes after she walked him to class, as she stood outside his room and talked with his teacher, the boy had a stroke.
“His face was drooping, and he couldn’t stand up, and I just knew it was a stroke,” Cormany said. “I didn’t know how it could be, but I knew that’s what it was.”
An ambulance took him to Huntsville Hospital, and from there he went by helicopter to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. Cormany said medicine couldn’t dissolve the stroke-causing blood clot, but a four-hour operation removed it.
Even so, the prognosis wasn’t good.
“The doctor said the CAT scan showed that the entire right side of his brain was dead,” Cormany said Wednesday. “They weren’t expecting he’d be able to do anything with his left side. He’s weak, but he’s up and walking by himself. They’re calling him the walking miracle.
“He hasn’t forgotten anything. He can add and subtract and read and write. The only time he’s complained at all was when he said he wished his thumb worked better.”
Cormany said her son’s doctors call Tyler’s stroke “a first and only case like this.” They’ve pulled his dad’s records to see if there were any leads there, “but they’re clueless as to why this would happen.”
Cormany said her husband, Steve, who was the Lakewood Elementary PTA president, “was the most awesome dad ever,” and his prolonged illness and death have been stressful to their son, but “the doctors don’t think that contributed to it.”
Tyler is recovering at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, and Cormany said he’s expected to go home next week. He’ll continue with physical therapy for a while, and if he can’t go back to class before the school year is over, a teacher will come to their home and teach him.
He’s ready for that. Principal Ann Marie Batista said Tyler “thrives in the classroom” and is a focused student. The principal said the first-grader even cut short a phone conversation with her because he wanted to get back to speech therapy.
He wants to get well so he can get back to school.
“Tell my classmates I miss them,” said the boy who wasn’t expected to speak again.
“And tell them I hope they have a very good day.”
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