MIAMISBURG — Lukas Ross is in the 8th grade at Dayton Christian School in Miami Twp. The 14-year-old from Miamisburg is also one of the best gymnasts in our region of the country in his age group.
>>My Tourette’s Story: News Center 7′s John Bedell opens up about lifelong journey
Lukas is getting ready to compete against gymnasts from five states in his age group at nationals Thursday in Daytona, Florida.
I found out the sport is more than just a passion for Lukas, it’s part therapy too. Something that helps him cope with a health challenge that he and I share: we both have Tourette Syndrome.
News Center 7 viewers might remember that I opened up about my lifelong journey with Tourette Syndrome in a story on WHIO in 2019. Now, Lukas is sharing his personal Tourette’s story in hopes of inspiring and helping others who share that experience.
“Gymnastics is just what he loves to do,” said Lukas’ mom, Hannah Ross, as she watched her son train at his gym in Franklin last week.
Today, Lukas is in Florida getting ready for the big meet on Thursday.
“I’ll do a practice competition, sort of, to where I feel the events,” Lukas said. “It’s a serious meet so we don’t want to be like not used to anything.”
Aside from enjoying the sport he chose, Lukas also uses gymnastics to help overcome something he didn’t choose: Tourette Syndrome.
Tourette is a chronic tic disorder with a heavy genetic component and no known cause or cure. People who have Tourette Syndrome have random, uncontrolled movements and vocalizations called tics. Vocal tics can be noises like throat clearing, sniffing and snorting. Examples of motor tics are things like eye blinking, head shaking or shoulder shrugs. Tics are not seizures.
I can tell you from first-hand experience that the journey Tourette’s hands you in life isn’t always easy. School can be challenging.
“It’s hard to focus on homework and stuff,” Lukas said. “Especially when I have a lot of noises around me. But if I’m separated into a section with not as much noise than it’s easier.” Lukas also has two common comorbidities – or conditions that people commonly have along with Tourette Syndrome – Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety.
I asked Lukas how school is as an 8th grader with Tourette Syndrome.
“Definitely harder than if I was homeschooled,” he said. “Because I have to try to hold (my tics) in so people don’t like see them a ton and like question me about them because I feel less comfortable if everybody’s coming up to me and stuff.”
But Lukas has overcome the difficulties he’s faced and he’s thriving in school, socially and in gymnastics, a sport that’s more than just one of his passions, it’s like therapy.
Tourette is a neurological disorder. A lot of folks who have Tourette Syndrome have some activities that, while they’re doing them, their tics stop, at least temporarily. This happens because your mind is focused on something else and, as far as your brain in concerned, the tic is basically not important. Your mind’s in a different place. For me, focusing on my on-air work and swimming are two things that make my tics stop. For Lukas, it’s gymnastics.
“When I’m like in between turns I do, sort of, but not when I’m actually doing it,” he said “I have some friends here and they’re sort of just like me. And they help me through it and stuff and when I’m doing it, it helps to get my energy out.”
I can tell you: talking about your Tourette Syndrome isn’t always the most comfortable thing. I mean, who really wants to chat about why you might walk around twitching and looking or sounding a little funny sometimes? It’s easy to feel self-conscious.
“I’m fine talking about it though,” Ross said.
That quote right there is why I admire Lukas. I asked him why he agreed to talk to me for this story? “Because I want to let people know how hard it is to deal with it and what helps me with it so if other people have the same problems,” Ross told me. “They can sort of find ways to help them.”
I asked his mom and dad about their son opening up about his journey. “We’re really proud of him,” Kenneth Ross said. “He’s not really ashamed of it as he gets older. He realizes that it’s how he’s made and it’s how it is and he learns how to cope with it. And always looking out for other people that he sees that might have some issues and doesn’t try to make them feel unwelcome or odd.”
Hannah Ross added, “He’s very accepting of others so I think he wants to be accepted also.”
Someone once told me, “we share our stories to give hope to those who share our struggles.” Who knows how many people Lukas could help by choosing to share his story? After all, everybody has something. And Lukas wants people to know this about his “something,” which just happens to be Tourette Syndrome: “That it’s not a limitation. That you can still do anything you want to do.”
Lukas will be starting high school at Dayton Christian in the fall. After that, he says he wants to go Ohio State for college. Ross wants to compete in gymnastics for the Buckeyes and he wants to be a marine biologist.
He competes in his national gymnastics meet Thursday in Daytona, Florida and we’ll be sure to let you know how he does here at News Center 7.
Cox Media Group
