Michael “Mickey” Tylo II was born in New York on April 24, 1988 and passed away on October 18, 2007 at the age of 19. Mickey suffered from Partial Complex Seizures.  Mickey is the son of Hunter Tylo, of CBS’, The Bold and The Beautiful.
Mickey experienced his first seizure at the age of 15. He was surrounded by family at a party and all of a sudden Mickey started uttering nonsense words and he had a blank stare. Hunter remembers thinking “what is going on, what is he saying?” That was their first of dozens, possibly hundreds, of seizures.
On the morning of Mickey’s 16th birthday, Hunter received a phone call around 6:30 a.m. reporting an accident involving Mickey. He was driving his new car to school, cut across three lanes of traffic and drove directly into four lanes of oncoming traffic. His car as well as another, was destroyed. This left Mickey without transportation and more importantly, his driver’s license.
How long does a teenager wait to turn 16 to receive their driver’s license only to have it taken away that very same day? It took Mickey three months without seizure activity to be eligible to drive again. However, this accident opened the possibility that a seizure could happen anywhere, anytime, without warning.
Hunter wondered when the next seizure would happen and if she would be able to keep Mickey safe. Hunter recalls a time when Mickey was having a seizure and he was at the top of the staircase. He was pushing forward with all of his weight while Hunter was begging him to stop, because he was headed for the stairs. Keeping him safe was becoming more difficult because of his body size and his full disclosure of how many seizures he was really having.
As Mickey was a teenager at the onset of epilepsy, it was difficult for him and his family to explain to others what was happening. How do you describe to your friends that you may have a seizure in front of them?
As the following four years passed, Mickey became more withdrawn and depression set in. He was aware that lack of sleep brought on more seizures but he was so on edge, it was hard for him to relax.
On October 18, 2007, Hunter knew he did not sleep well the previous night. Mickey was in their family home in Hendersen, Nevada, he walked outside near the pool to possibly receive better reception on his cell phone, experienced a seizure and fell into the pool. Sadly Mickey did not survive.
Hunter has now joined forces with The American Epilepsy Outreach Foundation to raise public awareness regarding the truth about epilepsy. More people need to understand the dangers of uncontrollable seizures.
