GIG HARBOR, Wash. — Tommy Perron's long road to graduation is one few people relate to. In fact, it's a journey that he remembers very little of.
His mother Jami says their world changed just five days after he started the first grade.
“At first they didn’t have a name for it.”
Tami recalls the day she got a call from school saying her son Tommy had a seizure and wasn’t waking up.
He was rushed by ambulance to the Hospitals and was eventually diagnosed with Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis.
It’s a rare neurological disease that’s chronicled in a book "Brain on Fire," the true story of Susannah Cahalan, a journalist for the New York Post. It was made into a movie in 2016.
Jami Perron describes her son's condition in matter-of-fact terms.
“It’s like it sounds. Brain on fire! He actually feels like his head is heating up and it’s debilitating.”
They would even feed him popsicles and he would gasp for relief.
The plot thickened for young Tommy when he eventually recovered enough through therapy and returned to the first grade.
For the next eight years, Tommy was able to navigate traditional school and the Perron family prepared for his teenage years.
In 2014 Tommy was getting good grades and enjoying his spot on the school robotics team. But by the end of seventh grade Tommy took a turn and relapsed in dramatic fashion. He missed all of eighth grade.
According to his mother “everything was worse.”
The return of his medical issue came with severe epilepsy. Tommy was in and out of school for the next several years.
"It's almost like being a newborn infant," Tommy said. "That's almost like how I had to recuperate from it."
He required teacher aides. Eventually, he removed himself from high school to attend West Sound Technical Skills center part-time where he earned his video game design certificate.
By the time Tommy approached his senior year he told his parents he really wanted to have “a normal senior year.”
They met with Peninsula High School staff and it was agreed he could attend the district's transition program for students with special needs. The program helped Tommy with life skills and transitioning to adulthood.
Tommy worked hard for several years to complete credits and earn his opportunity to graduate. Tommy says he doesn’t remember much before the seventh grade but his friends have kept him motivated.
"A big thing was he wanted to walk at graduation with his class," his mother said.
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