BROWNFIELD, Texas (KCBD) - This is a love story that started in the fourth grade. Today, Tyler and Mylinda Wood are celebrating 27 years of marriage, way more than medical science would have expected.
Tyler says, 'We were nine years old, and I fell deeply in love the moment I saw her."
Ten years later, they were prom dates at Brownfield High School. They married and started a family. Mylinda developed a passion for cake decorating and she was good at it until something odd happened.
She says, "I wouldn't trip, I'd just fall just straight, flat on my face."
That was the first sign something was wrong. Mylinda says she and Tyler were hoping for an MS diagnosis since there are treatments and people with that disease can live a long life.
But she didn't have Multiple Sclerosis. The diagnosis was Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS.
It's a disease that affects the nervous system and weakens all the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breath. For most, the life expectancy is three-to-five years.
But not Mylinda. Her journey with ALS began seven years ago.
Today, she says, "I can still walk. It's slow, but I can do it."
Her three boys stay close to her to help. Aiden cleans and takes care of Squawk, the parrot. Caleb, the oldest, does the cooking twice a day. Josiah, the youngest, is good for a hug many times a day.
No one knows why Mylinda's ALS is progressing slowly.
It's still a mystery why Stephen Hawking, the world-famous scientist, lived with ALS for 55 years .
Tyler and Mylinda were among the first couples to join the West Texas ALS support group when it formed in 2018.
They sympathize with other families in the group whose needs are greater than theirs.
Tyler says, "It's an expensive, expensive situation. I mean, there's equipment, there's medical equipment that's $80-90,000 that pretty much everybody's going to have to have."
That's why the ALS Support Group raises money for a "loaner closet", kind of like a library where patients can check out what they need.
Tyler says that includes "an $80,000 wheelchair, a $20,000 adjustable bed, cough assist devices, which you can't even purchase. So having that available, and not only available, but free because of the fundraising that's been done."
Fundraisers like the ALS Gala, that happens every year, provide an event for the whole family to forget what the disease will bring someday.
Linda McWilliams said this about her daughter, Mylinda, "It's very hard because you know, mamas are supposed to fix things and this is something I can't fix. I just have to do a lot of praying and leave her in God's hands."
Mylinda has the same strong attitude. She says she is counting her blessings to have been diagnosed with a terminal illness at the young age of 38. Now, seven years later, she is still able to walk, to put on her make up, and to dress up and look forward to a party.
She says this about her struggle with ALS, "My family, my relationship with God is the most important thing. Even though it's a death sentence, you can still have joy."
The ALS Masquerade Ball begins with a dinner at 7 p.m. this Saturday at the Prima Vista Event Center with live entertainment and a live auction.
Tickets are $75 a person. You can buy tickets at the door or go to https://www.westtexasals.com/events-1