Crawl to benefit local teen

Local restaurants are partnering this Saturday for a pub crawl that will benefit Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.

The "Toast to Tanner" Pub Crawl will raise money for Tanner Pyeatt who was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy when he was 4-years old. Tanner is now a junior at Navarre High School. While he is a happy teenager, he had to start using a wheelchair when he was 9 because his condition caused his legs to be very weak.

Tanner's parents started a website, http://web.me.com/porteles/T2T/T2T_Home.html, to tell Tanner's story and to raise awareness about the pub crawl event.

TC's Front Porch, Helen Back Café, Beach Monkey Bar & Grill, Juana's Pagodas Sailors' Grill and Navarre Beach Pier Bar will all participate in the pub crawl event. The crawl will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday at TC's Front Porch and will end at the Pier Bar.

People can support the event by donating to the cause, being a crawler or being a designated driver to take crawlers home. Tickets are $35 a person or $40 a couple. Other crawl games include poker crawl, a 50-50 raffle drawing, ring around the beer, slap me sticky and "Oh no you didn't." Local restaurants and other businesses have donated prizes and all crawlers will receive a T-shirt.

Tim Pyeatt, Tanner's father, said that Tanner still keeps a smile on his face even though he has been through several surgeries and needs the full-time assistance of his parents for daily functions.

"Even though all of that, Tanner still keeps a smile on his face and hope for the future. Hope than a cure will be found some day and soon," Tim wrote on the website. "More medical research is critically needed and the costs are extremely high. PPMD is leading the way in raising awareness and funds for research specifically for DMD."

For more information about PPMD, visit www.parentprojectmd.org.