Tyler RocheTilden is 15 years old and lives with autism and severe anxiety. He was cycling home from his music class when thirty boys surrounded him to insult him, spit on him, and throw rocks at him. Since that day, he was terrified to set foot in the hallways of Massapequa High School. And he was also terrified to get back on his bicycle. 🥺
But something changed at his school. The football, soccer, and kickline teams came to his house with sports equipment as gifts and escorted him to the school entrance. The seniors stopped going out to lunch just to sit beside him. And when Tyler no longer wanted to leave his house, more than 100 people organized a bike ride to accompany him, with the football team paying for part of the event.
When they lifted him onto his bike amid shouts of “We love you, Tyler!”, his mother Gina Moscato couldn’t hold back her tears. They were tears of joy, the same ones that brought a smile back to her son. 💙