He stands in the batter's box, his head on a swivel, jerking in every direction. He looks at the umpire longer than the pitcher, holds the bat in one hand and punches himself in the ribs with the other.
Facts
ABOUT TOURETTE'S
Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics.
The name: The disorder is named for Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, a French neurologist who in 1885 first described the condition in an 86-year-old French woman.
More men than women: Males are affected about three to four times more often than females.
Numbers: It is estimated that 200,000 Americans have the most severe form of TS, and as many as one in 100 exhibit milder symptoms.
For teens: Most people with the condition experience their worst tic symptoms in their early teens.
[ Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders ]
The name: The disorder is named for Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, a French neurologist who in 1885 first described the condition in an 86-year-old French woman.
More men than women: Males are affected about three to four times more often than females.
Numbers: It is estimated that 200,000 Americans have the most severe form of TS, and as many as one in 100 exhibit milder symptoms.
For teens: Most people with the condition experience their worst tic symptoms in their early teens.
[ Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders ]
Somehow, fighting the full-blown episode of his Tourette Syndrome, Kellen Webster sees the pitch he wants and plows it up the middle for a single.
And his father doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he does both.
"He was doing what he loved and, selfishly, I was inspired," a tearful Todd Webster said of the experience in 2012, the summer before Kellen's junior year at Bothell High School. "I tell people all the time that it was the worst thing I've ever seen, but at the same time the best thing I've ever seen him do. It was very uplifting."
Leyton Thommasen's tics are much more subtle, and many who watch him tend goal for the Kennedy Catholic soccer team have no clue that he, too, has Tourette's. His is a milder form, yet like Webster he has overcome obstacles to excel athletically and academically.
Together, they epitomize the motto splashed across the Tourette Syndrome Association website: "I have Tourette's, but Tourette's Doesn't Have Me."
They inspire family and friends, most awed by their accomplishments. They refuse to let Tourette's stand in their way and hope their stories will motivate others to compete.
One so insistent and irritating, you can't suppress the urge to scratch it. Now imagine that itch inside your head.
That's how Thommasen describes his Tourette's.
"I can't scratch it by hand," he said.
So, Thommasen twitches his head for relief — sometimes even on the soccer field — and it feels like a good fingernails-down-your-back scratch, at least for the moment.
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