Motivational speaker encourages kids to never give up

Dr. Tyler Sexton, medical director of Singing River Pediatrics and motivational speaker, spoke to students at Bayou View Middle School and Gulfport Central Middle School today.

He talked about achieving goals, regardless of your situation in life.

Dr. Sexton was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant and was told he would never be able to walk, talk, or even see.

Defying the odds and undergoing 16 surgeries, he pursued his passion for scuba diving and climb the ranks of recreational scuba diving, and turned his passion into his career as a hyperbaric physician. Dr. Sexton said, “My own personal story of overcoming what I have been through. I think I need to use what I have learned, not only as a doctor, to help heal kids with my mind, but also how to heal the soul with what we have been through. That just means a lot to me, being able to touch people with my own personal experience and that’s so important and what I love being on the road, talking to these kids is more important to me than anything else.”

Dr. Sexton also talked about the physical and mental effects of bullying and the dangers of drugs in teens.