Wheelchair-accessible van on family wish list

Tyler Maphis will never drive, but his parents are car shopping for the 15-year-old. A used wheelchair-equipped van is not the stuff of a teen's dreams, but it's what he needs.

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Ashley Maphis' younger brothers Tyler and Riley were born with severe disabilities, including cerebral palsy. Riley died at age 2.

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Last year, Tyler attended Greenbrier High, where Ashley was a senior. He followed his favorite teacher to Grovetown.

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Michael Holahan/Staff

Misty Maphis holds her son, Tyler. The family needs at least $25,000 to buy a used specially equipped van to transport Tyler.

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Michael Holahan/Staff

Tyler Maphis, 15, can't walk or speak and is confined to a wheelchair. His parents, Misty (left) and Roger Maphis, hope to buy a wheelchair-accessible van before Staff Sgt. Maphis is deployed to Afghanistan in May. "It's about safety," Mrs. Maphis said.

Born with severe disabilities, Tyler is confined to a wheelchair. He can't walk. He can't speak. He can't breathe through his mouth or nose. He can't swallow or chew.

Tyler's father, Army Staff Sgt. Roger Maphis, is set for deployment to Afghanistan in May, and the Grovetown family needs the van by then.

A nonprofit group has been formed to pay for the $25,000 van Tyler needs.

Though a bus with a lift takes him to Grovetown High School, Tyler's parents carry him and a 72-pound wheelchair to their van when they leave the house.

"There are times when he and I are home and can't go anywhere because I can't lift him," said his mother, Misty Maphis, who runs a day care out of her home to be closer to Tyler. Lifting Tyler is a two-person job, and by spring Mrs. Maphis will have less help as Staff Sgt. Maphis makes his third trip to the Middle East.

"When Roger leaves, I don't know what we'll do," she said. "We want to have the freedom to do things, live life."

In the past two months, the nonprofit Tater's Toter has organized two First Friday raffles and a trail ride, which starts this morning. It's a silly name for a serious need, Mrs. Maphis said. Tater has been Tyler's nickname since birth.

The fundraisers are the family's last resort. The Maphises have exhausted options through insurance and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Tater's Toter has raised $3,500, including $1,000 from the Medical College of Georgia, said Christy Reynolds, a family friend spearheading fundraising efforts. Mrs. Maphis and her daughter, 18-year-old Ashley, are also sending letters to politicians and businesspeople.

"It's just an enormous expense. We know that," Mrs. Maphis said of the van. "We have to do this, because it's about safety. Tater sits in just a regular passenger seat now. I wouldn't have to pick up the wheelchair. I'd stop hurting my back."

Signs of trouble

Tyler has been wheelchair-bound since he was a toddler. Developmentally, he's about 6 to 8 months old, although that's a difficult thing to measure, Mr. Maphis said.

"I think he comprehends more than we give him credit for," she said.

He is unable to use his hands, but he has expressive eyes and almost always wears a grin. Tyler loves movies and the park, sweet tea and balloons.

"He's got the sweetest disposition," Mrs. Maphis said.

Mrs. Maphis remembers the first time she worried about him.

"It was the moment he was born," she said. "He wouldn't cry, ever."

When he was 2 weeks old, Tyler had his first seizure.

"He would draw up in himself and just shake," his mother said.

The family learned Tyler has a complex assortment of disorders, including cerebral palsy, severe neurodegenerative brain disorder and chronic lung disease.

As a baby, Tyler wouldn't eat, so Mrs. Maphis fed him with a syringe. He now has a feeding tube. Other operations have left him with a permanent hole through the trachea so he can breathe. He is awaiting surgery to remove several teeth, some of which haven't cut through his gums and none of which have been used.

The right move

Staff Sgt. Maphis met his future wife in Kansas a few years after he joined the Army. They married after her senior year of high school.

Within three months, he was off to Iraq for Operation Desert Storm. He returned in time to see Ashley born, in June 1991.

Staff Sgt. Maphis left the Army and followed an oil boom back to Texas, where he grew up. Tyler was born in June 1994, the same year Mrs. Maphis' parents were stationed at Fort Gordon. Tyler's hospitalizations were growing more frequent, and the Maphises learned they were pregnant with a third child.

"After very little talk, Roger and I decided to move to Georgia," Mrs. Maphis said.

It was the right decision, she said: "Augusta saved his life."

Tyler improved in the care of neurologists at Medical College of Georgia Hospital. The grandparents were a big support, too.

The Maphises started attending church and found a faith they say has carried them through.

Immeasurable loss

In August 1995, Riley Maphis -- nicknamed Spanky -- was born.

Doctors said the odds of having a second child with severe disabilities were long. Unlike his brother, Riley cried at birth and Mrs. Maphis' fears eased, but within a week, Riley started having seizures.

He, too, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

"We would be back and forth to the hospital over the next year with one or both of the boys," Mrs. Maphis said. "Tater and Spanky were often mistaken as twins. Most of the time we just allowed people to think it. They were inseparable."

Riley was always healthier, so the Maphises still don't understand what happened.

On May 17, 1998, when Riley was 2, Mrs. Maphis got up to get ready for church.

"When I walked into Tyler and Riley's room, I noticed almost immediately that something was wrong with Riley," she said.

He was blue and still. He barely had a pulse. An ambulance took him to the hospital, but Riley died that day.

"I sat there holding Riley to my chest, his head tucked under my chin, and just sobbed," Mrs. Maphis said.

For months after his death, living was a challenge for the family.

"I didn't understand," Staff Sgt. Maphis said. "But now I realize, when Riley passed away, it made me stronger. We never know when our time is up. We know that Tyler is still here for a specific reason. It's the Lord's plan."

Two years before Riley's death, Staff Sgt. Maphis had rejoined the military, knowing the benefits would help cover the boys' medical costs. The Army granted compassionate reassignments so the Maphises could stay in Augusta and close to family. Staff Sgt. Maphis served tours of duty in Iraq in 2007 and 2008.

Mrs. Maphis struggled with depression.

"I felt overwhelmed," she said. "I was in such fear."

Eventually, she decided that her fear was holding her living son back.

"I decided Tyler needed to live life without my fear," Mrs. Maphis said, so she enrolled him in school.

School days

At 6:45 a.m., a bus picks up Tyler and takes him to Grovetown High, just around the corner from the family's home.

Last year, he went to Greenbrier High, where Ashley was a senior. She is now studying criminal justice at Augusta State University. This year, Tyler followed his favorite teacher when she left for Grovetown.

"It's brought him completely out of his shell," Ashley said. "He's more attentive, awake. ... He's able to interact with other kids who can talk and can walk."

They plan to roll Tyler in his wheelchair across the stage to accept a diploma in 2012.

"I think I'll just lose it then," Mrs. Maphis said. "We never could have even imagined things would turn out like this."

Faith and family

Staff Sgt. Maphis leads Parkway Baptist Church's youth group, and the couple is active with the Christian revival ministry Tres Dias.

"They're such a faith-filled family," said the Rev. Russell Davis, Parkway's pastor. "We're just trying to get things going for them. Tater's growing. His daddy is going to be gone. We had to do something."

Mrs. Maphis said her family is thankful for the fundraising efforts.

"The low was the depression. This is the high, this right here," she said. "I've never felt more love from my brothers and sisters in Christ than right here right now."

Their faith is their peace.

"I firmly believe I was chosen by God to care for a special-needs child. It is a privilege," Mrs. Maphis said. "People walk up on the street to say, 'That boy right there is special.'

"They're right. He is a ministry. He's helped us see that we don't have it rough, not by any means. What we have is hope. We have a lot of hope.

"We're just waiting on freedom, the freedom specifically that a van can bring."

Reach Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.