By Kaleb Moore
Staff writer
IG: kalebmoore05
The English dictionary defines merit as the quality of being particularly good or worthy, especially so as to deserve praise or reward. Fittingly, Tyler Merritt exemplifies that word by all possible means.
On April 1, the 173rd edition of the Dillon Lecture Series took place at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The featured speaker, the aforementioned Tyler Merritt, is an author, actor, comedian, and cancer survivor. His books include “I Like My Coffee Black”and “This Changes Everything”, to go along with his children’s book “A Door Made for Me”.
Merritt is a loud voice against racial injustice, and in his first novel, “I Like My Coffee Black”, he wrote in a way that was true to his personality. “I didn’t want it to be so serious. Just because that’s just not me, everybody else is so good at (writing)”, Merrit said. “But what I wanted to do instead was to write a book that was entertaining, that people were going to enjoy just for the entertainment part, but in that, sneak in history and really important things”.
He also went viral in 2018 when he posted a short video on YouTube titled “Before You Call the Cops”. This video was a simple idea at its core, but came off as poetic and thoughtful. It sparked others to recreate it with their own meanings and stories, and as Merritt said, “Your specific story matters”.
During the lecture, Merritt spoke about his battle with cancer and how he was able to overcome liposarcoma, a rare form of cancer that develops inside the fat tissue and can be located in the thigh, behind the knee, or in Merritt’s case, inside the abdomen.
Not only was the cancer rare, it also surpassed all estimates of size, weighing a whopping 28 pounds, wrapping around Merritt’s kidney and other internal organs in his stomach. Merritt knew he was in a pickle, but he was able to find hope thanks to his doctors.
When he was given his diagnosis, Merritt went to who he hoped was the Michael Jordan of his type of cancer surgery. Instead, he received the Donald Bradman. Luckily for Merritt, Donald Bradman played cricket, and as his doctor put it, was the greatest cricketer to ever live, so he was in great hands.
Merritt was emotional at times during his talk, which reflects the kind of enthusiasm and care he put into his speech. He asked the audience to engage with him, and not a single person disengaged until he said thank you and walked off the stage. At one point, he was handed a tissue by an audience member, which shows how much the audience loved Merritt.
At the end of the day, Merritt had one simple message: “You are somebody’s hope today”. What he meant by that is everyone should keep moving forward for someone. For him it was his mother. For everyone else, it could be someone as simple as a teacher or classmate. Regardless, Tyler Merritt was everyone’s hope at the Hutchinson Sports Arena
