His Family Suspected a Football Injury, but it was Cancer
Tyler was playing a lot of football the summer before his sophomore year of high school. His leg had been bothering him for a couple of weeks, but his family chalked it up to the hours he was spending on the field each day.
That summer, Tyler and his dad, Mike Robinson, were on vacation in New Hampshire with Tyler’s grandmother. His grandmother thought Tyler’s leg looked swollen and suggested they go to urgent care. “I remember thinking, ‘She is blowing this out of proportion,’” Mike says.
They agreed to have it checked and X-rayed. When they got the results, they heard words they never expected: “This looks like bone cancer.”
“It was like being hit in the head with an anvil,” Mike says. “You go from thinking about where you are going to grab a burger to driving immediately to Boston Children’s. Your world is upside down. I remember thinking, ‘Am I in a nightmare right now?’”
Doctors Found Cancer in his Leg and Lungs
An MRI and other imaging tests showed Tyler had osteosarcoma in his leg that had metastasized to both of his lungs. To treat it, they started the amputation process right away. “That was the right decision, but it was really hard,” Mike says.
Tyler and his family tried a range of treatments over three years. “We went through two lung surgeries, three knee surgeries, countless rounds of chemo, a clinical trial, and radiation,” says Amie Stowe, Tyler’s mom.
Still, for most of Tyler’s junior and senior years of high school, he took a maintenance drug, and his life was relatively normal. “He went to prom, he graduated, he partied,” Amie says. “He never let his amputation stop him even when there were issues with the prosthetic and the surgery site. He still used his crutches and tried riding a bike, kicked a soccer ball around, bounced on the trampoline, and did short hikes with the family all with one leg.”
Amie and Mike say they were more liberal with Tyler than they might have been, given what he was going through. “We wanted to let him get in everything he could get in,” Amy says. “He went on dates. He took gummies. He had a beer.”
Final Days Surrounded by Love
Ultimately, a tumor in Tyler’s lungs was inoperable, because it was intertwined with blood vessels. There was no further treatment available. Tyler, 18, was only expected to live days longer. “Tyler barely cried. He accepted it. He knew he was going to die for three years,” Mike says. “He was worried about his friends and family, not about himself.”
Tyler’s family filled his final days with joy. As his time drew to an end, he told his friends and family members what he wanted for them in their lives. “He left us with the things he treasured most and the happiness he wanted to see us have,” Amie says.
He gave his shirts and sweatshirts to his friends and nephews, and he paid for his friends and his family members to get tattoos together after he passed away. They tattooed their left legs, the leg that Tyler had amputated, with his initials, his birthday, and the day he died. “I passed out getting the tattoo. I am sure he would have gotten a real laugh out of that,” Mike says.
