A military teen is tapping into his love of the Avengers to overcome physical challenges and never stop, never quit.
Army kid Tyler Heffner likes to try new things. So when he heard about a superhero-themed 5K race at Fort Bragg, where his father, Staff Sgt. Derek Heffner, was stationed at the time, his interest was piqued.
The fact that part of his left leg was amputated when he was a toddler — or that he couldn’t run until he was 10 — didn’t bother him. All he knew was that superheroes are cool, and that running looked like fun.
Now 13, Tyler still thinks superheroes are cool — he would like to feast on soda, ice cream and pizza with his favorites one day — and that running is fun. So much so, in fact, that he has competed in more than 20 5Ks and one half-marathon, all on his specialized running blade prosthetic wrapped in Avengers-themed graphics.
“I love crossing the finish line,” said Tyler, now living at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. “I get a medal every run, and I now have a medal collection in my living room.”
Born with congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia (CPT), in which a child’s shinbone bows outwardly, fractures easily and fails to heal properly, Tyler has faced multiple amputations, the final one ending below the knee. The silver lining, though, was that he could then use prosthetic limbs. His new leg and foot allowed him to fully embrace walking, as well as focus on something beside his CPT and neurofibromatosis, a group of genetic disorders causing noncancerous tumors to grow on someone’s nerve tissues.
“It might be scary to some people on the outside, but I’ve grown up with it my entire life,” said his mother Audrina Heffner, who also has neurofibromatosis, as do five of her six children. “When we first [found] out he was probably going to need amputation, I was really scared for his quality of life and how he was going to be as active as other kids.”
That fear never came true, however. At first, wanting to support Tyler, Audrina ran the races with him. But after he got his running blade, he had an announcement: he was a solo runner now.
“He said I slowed him down,” Audrina laughed. “And he wants to improve his time with each race.” He is currently aiming for a 40-minute 5K.
Amongst Tyler’s other endeavors are sketching and baseball — not just playing, but also serving as the “first batter” at a Cosmic Chili Peppers game in Oklahoma City in April. Also on the list of accomplishments: attending a Challenged Athletes Foundation clinic at the Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy and competing for the title of “Youth Athlete of the Year.”
Tyler has toyed with the idea of becoming a police officer or firefighter someday, maybe in New York, but before that happens, he wants to make holiday use of his amputated leg as a haunted house volunteer at Fort Sill. It could be the perfect prop, after all, to scare attendees.
That’s a typical can-do, find-a-way attitude for her son, Audrina added.
“Tyler doesn’t let his amputation hold him back; he doesn’t let it stop him,” she said. “If it were me, I’d be like, ‘I can’t do that, forget it!’ but he doesn’t.”
Of course not, Tyler said. He wants to be like (and meet!) Ironman, his favorite Avenger, and Ironman would keep pressing on.
“I see my race medal collection every day,” he said. “And I feel proud.”
Readers can support Tyler H. by voting for him as “Youth Athlete of the Year,” until 8 p.m. PST on Sept. 17. His mom Audrina shared that he would use prize money to fulfill his goal of meeting the Avengers someday.
