- Stephen was the happiest, most adorable,
most loving child.
- We played together and then we fought,
and then we played together.
Yeah, he's my little brother.
- Pretty squirrelly.
I could never really stop moving.
- He was the cutest kid.
He was happy.
He banged on stuff, you know, he's gonna be
a drummer some day.
We've got this hilarious video of him.
- I think he kinda just always had a drummer's soul.
It was in third grade and while we'd be watching a movie
or in quiet times, I kept hearing these little sounds,
and I didn't know where it was coming from.
I walked around the room until I stopped at Stephen.
- Then there was always that, hm, all the time.
So we didn't know what that was.
- He was actually kind of getting in trouble a little bit
for it because this is quiet time, so it's time
to be quiet now.
- People were coming to me saying, hey, could you stop
doing that, that thing that you just did, and I'd say,
I don't know what you're talking about.
What did I just do?
And they said, well, that sound,
you just made a sound really loud.
- Stephen came into third grade and I noticed that he was
having lots of jerking movements and movements
that didn't seem to make any sense.
Just two years before, my granddaughter, Katie,
had been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome.
And I thought, you know, I think I am seeing some
of those same things.
- A neurological disorder that causes involuntary tics,
which are just movements, motions, sounds, things like that,
that you can't control.
- There's just that moment when you identify it as a name.
- Took a test in third grade and they said, yeah,
we think he's got Tourette's Syndrome.
So they gave us some places that we could go.
It's a hard thing.
When your child is diagnosed with a disorder
that you don't know how it's gonna affect their life.
The diagnosis is until the kid's are 18 to 20,
it could get worse.
It's gonna progress through puberty, into adulthood.
So from third grade 'til then, you're praying
it doesn't get worse.
- And he chose not to succumb to frustration, but he kept,
percussion was a huge part of that.
He always had it, and he loved it.
- How do I relate with this instrument?
You know, I've got this physical thing and I know
that I've got energy in me to kind of put into this thing,
but I don't know how.
- Giving your brain something so specific to focus on,
this pattern and this way, it gave him an avenue
to express himself.
- When he was in the zone, when he was in the music zone,
nothing, there was no indication of Tourette's.
- So if he was drumming, it was taking care of itself.
It was kind of letting that out.
- With Tourette's, it's on a spectrum,
so it sort of ebbs and flows throughout his life.
Like he'll even have seasons where it's way more severe,
and then seasons where it's not as severe.
But no matter what, it's there.
- So right now, Stephen is in rehearsal for a holiday show
that we do every year, and my dad's conducting,
my mom's playing the flute, and so they're already in there.
So someone's gonna grab Stephen and get him out
of the building while we go inside and get set.
So we're about to go surprise Stephen.
Are you guys ready?
- [All] Yes.
We are gonna surprise Stephen with a standing ovation
to celebrate all the challenges that he has overcome.
- What are you doing?
Oh my gosh.
You changed my life, you know that?
- We're very, very proud of you, and the person
that you've become.
We know that it wasn't always easy for you.
There were a lot of things, and still are a lot of things,
that you have to overcome every day.
We also have somebody else who couldn't be here
that wanted to say hi to you.
- Hi, Stephen, I'm Steve Carell, sitting here
with director, Robert Zemeckis and my co-star, Leslie Mann.
Now, we hear that you have had some pretty crazy obstacles
in your life, and have managed to get through them
in a really wonderful way.
- We did wanna invite you and a few of your friends to see
an advanced screening of our new film, Welcome to Marwen.
- It's about a real-life guy who goes through
some pretty crazy difficulties of his own,
and finds very unique way of dealing with them.
We hope you enjoy it.
- Have a great day, Stephen, you deserve it.
- This means the world to me.
Thank you so much and I just wanted to take a second
to thank all these people,
who really helped me along,
especially my parents and my family, my beautiful wife.
Thank you so much, thank you so much.
Oh my goodness.