Mountaineer Tyler Armstrong is a bit closer to reaching his goal of raising $1 million to find a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness and affects one in 3,500 boys.
Yorba Linda’s 11-year-old Tyler has set out to be the youngest person to trek the seven summits – the tallest mountain on each continent – and to raise awareness and funding toward finding a cure for Duchenne.
Related: 11-year-old Tyler Armstrong preparing to conquer Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain
Tyler has already climbed three of the summits: Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Aconcagua and Mount Elbrus. He is training to start his climbing of Mount Everest in April.
On Sunday, Tyler hosted a special screening at a Tustin theater of the movie “Everest,” which tells the story of a blizzard that overtook the mountain and left eight climbers dead. The event raised about $5,300 toward Climb to Cure Duchenne.
So far, he has raised about $40,000. Several years ago, Tyler met a boy with the disorder.
“Tyler is an amazing little catalyst that has taken us to a whole new level awareness-wise,” said Drew Hoyer, vice president of development for Cure Duchenne. “He is an inspiration to us.”
Donations can be made at climbtocureduchenne.org.
Stay Connected
Sign up for updates straight to your inbox.