In high school Tyler played lacrosse and ran cross country, he was an Eagle Scout, and he even had a part time job at Smoothie King. When he graduated in May 2011 from Holy Innocents he thought he would go off to college with his friends, but his plans would soon change.

During the lacrosse season he started to feel a pain in his right side. When the season was over, he went to the doctor. At first, they thought it could be tendonitis, but he got an x-ray just to be sure. The x-ray showed a mass in his ribcage that was later confirmed by a CT scan as well. After the scans he met with an oncologist and a surgeon to get a biopsy which resulted in the diagnosis of Ewings Sarcoma, a soft tissue cancer. The tumor could not be removed because it was too big and soft, so chemotherapy treatment was started immediately. After three months of chemo, they were able to remove the tumor. In doing so, however, the doctors also had to remove part of his ribs and lung. Currently, he is still undergoing chemotherapy treatment.