*******************************
Many Americans know Tim Howard as the star goalie of the United States men’s national soccer team, whose dramatic saves in last year’s World Cup
in Brazil led to a tournament record. But fewer know about his
struggles off the field with a neurological disorder that is fairly
common but widely misunderstood.
The first symptoms
crept up on him when he was 10, when he developed intrusive thoughts and
compulsive behaviors. He blinked obsessively, constantly cleared his
throat, and often found himself shrugging his shoulders and rolling his
eyes repetitively to relieve anxious thoughts. A doctor diagnosed Tourette syndrome,
marked by tics and repetitive movements, and obsessive-compulsive
disorder, an anxiety disorder. The conditions are closely related and
often occur together.
Mr. Howard felt
powerless to control his tics and obsessive thoughts, but sports gave
him an outlet: On the field, his symptoms would subside as he focused
all his energy on stopping the soccer balls whizzing toward him.
Today, Mr. Howard is a goalkeeper for the English Football Club Everton
and an outspoken advocate for greater awareness and research into
Tourette syndrome, which affects roughly one out of every 160
school-aged children in the United States. Last year, the Tourette
Association of America gave him its “Champion of Hope Award,” calling him the most notable person in the world with the condition.
Recently, we caught up
with Mr. Howard to discuss growing up with compulsive behaviors, the
Tourette misconceptions he is trying to dispel, and whether soccer fans
can expect to see him in goal at the next World Cup. Here’s an edited
version of our conversation.
Q.
I was surprised to learn that Tourette syndrome affects so many children. Why do you think it does not get more attention?
A.
I don’t have the
answer, but it affects a lot more people than we’re all aware of. It’s
something that is not as openly discussed and talked about among
educators, doctors and health professionals as it should be. Creating
awareness is the mountain we are trying to climb.
Q.
What was it like growing up with this condition?
A.
I had a great
childhood. From the age of 6 I was playing soccer and baseball. I had
great friends. I used to run around the neighborhood and cause havoc on
my bicycle. I had a normal childhood. But at some point in there, when I
was around 10 or 11 years old, Tourette syndrome crept up on me with
the O.C.D. and the tics. Obviously I knew something was different. But
none of the other stuff wavered. I still had good friends. I still
enjoyed and excelled at sports. But there was this point in time where
this strange thing was going on with me.
As a kid I recognized
it, but on my list of priorities it was very low. On my mom’s list of
priorities, however, it was very high. She saw me, her youngest child,
with these tics that didn’t seem normal, and she was very concerned.
Q.
What did your mother do?
A.
It was very
frustrating. She did a lot of reading up on it and then took me to see a
doctor. The doctor wanted to prescribe a drug. But my mother was
against it. So we tried other things. I had a lot of trouble just
sitting still most of the time, and my mother would often send me
outdoors to play.
Q.
Did sports help you manage some of your symptoms?
A.
Sports certainly gave
me relief. They gave me another focus. I didn’t just go to school and
then come home and sit in my room and ponder life. Sports gave me this
outlet that I needed because I had all this pent up energy from trying
to suppress my tics. I was trying to get through an entire school day
without looking different from all the other kids and I was unsuccessful
at that.
So it was great for me
to be able to participate in sports every day — to be a kid who was
active. In all this chaos that was going on inside my body and inside my
brain, trying to figure it all out as a young teenager, I always had
soccer or baseball or basketball. That was what I looked forward to. It
gave me something that I could focus on and enjoy.
Q.
What are some of the misconceptions you are trying to dispel?
A.
Hollywood has so much
power, and any time they portray someone with Tourette syndrome in a
movie or on a television show it’s always some kid or some person
cursing. That may be laughable to some people, but it’s a misconception.
That kind of behavior affects only a low percentage of the Tourette
community – only about 10 percent. For the most part, we in the Tourette
community are as normal as anyone else.
Q.
Many people with Tourette syndrome today look up to you. Who did you look up to as a child?
A.
Way back when I was a
child, the only person I knew of that had Tourette syndrome was Chris
Jackson, who played basketball for the Denver Nuggets and later changed
his name to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. At the time there was absolutely zero
literature on Tourette syndrome that I could find because the Internet
was still in its infancy. Then I saw a program with Chris Jackson on
television one night documenting his journey. And so here I was this
young kid, wide eyed and thinking, “Holy cow, not only is he like me,
but TS doesn’t matter! This guy made it to the NBA, the pinnacle of
basketball.”
Q.
It sounds like seeing him had a lasting impact on you.
A.
It changed my life.
And that’s how I see it today: I want to be him to all the other kids
with Tourette syndrome. I want them to see me and think: “Yeah, he has
TS. But he wanted to play in the Premier League and he did it. He wanted
to play in the World Cup and he did it – because of, or in spite of,
having TS.’
Q.
Has your success in soccer made it easier to bring attention to your cause?
A.
I’m a walking
billboard. I’ve always said I have such an easy job creating awareness
because I have no choice. Saturday morning comes and there are a billion
sets of eyeballs watching the world’s beautiful game and I’m at the
forefront of it. So I feel like I’ve got an easy job raising awareness.
Q.
What is one message you would like to convey to the public about Tourette syndrome?
A.
There are so many
messages. But I think it’s time for everyone to understand that research
needs to increase. It’s not O.K. for doctors to slap a blanket
medication over this condition and tell people to come back in a couple
months. It really needs to be looked at and studied in much finer detail
than it is today.
Q.
Your performance in
the World Cup last year was widely celebrated and turned you into an
Internet sensation. Can we expect to see you in goal again at the 2018
World Cup?
A.
If my body holds up
and the manager selects me, then I would most certainly want to be
there. That would be awesome. That’s my goal, and that’s certainly the
carrot that I have in front of me and that’s something I would love to
do. I would love to be part of a team that goes to Russia because the
U.S. team is young, it’s exciting, and it has a lot to prove.
******************************
No comments:
Post a Comment