- April 28, 2024
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Community figure Ty Wilson keeps a positive attitude through his debilitating illness.
Tyra Roberson remembers the first time she saw her father limp.
He was her softball coach, just one of the dozens of hats he wore during her childhood, and she noticed a slight change in his walk as he made his way across the field to third base. She didn’t know it at the time, but it was the first sign of his multiple sclerosis.
“He always did everything sports,” Roberson said. “He still did everything he could throughout our lives. It never slowed him down in terms of him going after life.”
Tyra Roberson’s sister, Jenna Pender, said the moment that stands out in her life, is when her father told them he had the disease. She and Roberson were teenagers, laying on their beds and discussing the most important issue at the time: what they were going to do tonight.
“He was never really forthcoming with what he had,” Pender said. “My dad came in the room, shut the door and I was like ‘Dad, we haven’t even done anything yet.’”
He leaned against their desk, and told them about the disease that would slowly take his life. But their lives were equally changed.
“Here’s this man who was so involved in our lives,” Pender said. “For him to just get this was so devastating. My dad was the soccer coach, softball coach and the car pool. For him to get this curve ball changed the dynamic of our family forever.”
Though their lives were certainly different, their father, Ty Wilson, was still the same caring, kind, super-involved parent and community member he had always been. Now in his 70s, Ty Wilson has owned two businesses, was president of the Rotary Club of Daytona Beach, president of the Chamber of the Halifax Area, and is still is involved in the civic league and the checkered flag. Though Ty Wilson was humble in discussing his activity, his wife, Lynda Wilson, didn’t mind doing a little bragging.
“I’ve seen the plaques on your wall,” she chuckled.
“I honestly think the lesson that he has taught me with MS is that you are always capable of being successful,” Pender said. “Don’t ever let something get you down. Even in a wheel chair, he had two companies, and he never poor mouthed anything. We would have to ask him when he needed help.”
Roberson ended up going into her father’s real estate company, TW Realty, 12 years ago.
“He’s been doing business in this area for 30 plus years,” Roberson said. “He’s so involved in this community, that’s why he’s so well-known. Over time things have just progressed to the point now where he’s slowing down, so I’ve stepped up.”
Ty and Lynda Wilson raised their family in Ormond Beach. They took their girls to St. James Episcopical Church and enrolled them at Seabreeze High School. Their love for the town, as illustrated by their community involvement, led to their role in bringing the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s awareness walk to The Casements in the 1980s.
“The Casements is a nice venue,” Ty Wilson said. “It seems to be well received. Ormond has come a long way from just being a bedded community inside Daytona Beach.”
It’s no surprise that the whole family gets involved in the walk every March. Roberson is on the society’s board, and Pender gets her own family together to walk for “Team Tygers.” They both credit their father’s positive attitude to his ability to live a full life.
“He is at a point where he does need more attention from us, but he’s still himself,” Roberson said.
“I personally think that’s why he’s done as well. He has had the best attitude, and that can dive which way you go. I think he turned some of his anger into total positivity.”
“Laughter is a huge cure, and it has really gotten us through some dark times,” Pender said. “He never really wanted to be this labeled as the guy in a wheel chair, and he never wanted other people to be uncomfortable around him. So when he sees someone else in a wheel chair, he’ll roll up next to them and say ‘Want to race?’ When he’s having a beer in his wheel chair, he jokes about getting a DUI. His spirit is what has kept him going this long. I don’t know anybody that’s stronger than him.”
His girls’ opinions are not far off from actual scientific research. The Journal of Positive Psychology published findings in 2013 about altruism (practice of selfless concern for the wellbeing of others) and cognitive reserve’s (the mind’s resistance to damage) connection to MS. The research found that altruism impacted wellbeing and an active cognitive reserve had significant effects on all levels of disability. Though Ty Wilson isn’t sure if his attitude has made a difference, his wife is.
“Sometimes he doesn’t even realize how positive he is,” she laughed. “When he was on the tennis team in high school, his coach told him he could tell he never gives up. That’s something he never even thinks about about.”
Ty Wilson credited the progress research on MS has made to his ability to keep going.
“The right support to help you,” he said. “You can have a good time.”
“There’s always hope,” Lynda Wilson said. “If you can just maintain a cure is right around the corner.”
However, the most important thing to this family is each other. When Ty Wilson was diagnosed, the four of them changed from a family, into a team.
“The girls have been so great in helping,” Lynda Wilson said. “Jenna (Pender) moved back to town, and now she’s just a few minutes away. She comes over to help him get our of bed or put on a sweater, whatever he needs. Both their husbands are great too. Everyone has been so involved.”
“Plus, I have a strong wife,” Ty smiled.
The family will be going together to represent “Team Tyger” at Walk MS on Mar. 7 at Rockefeller Gardens. The event raises money for research to find a cure for multiple sclerosis.
“MS or not,” Pender said. “He would be there anyways.”
