A rock and roll legend has given a young man with Down syndrome a memory to last a lifetime.
When 24-year-old Anthony Yorfido was browsing a medical supply store last month, he was shocked to find Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler at the same store shopping for a back brace. Yorfido is a huge Aerosmith fan, and was disappointed that the two Aerosmith shows in his hometown sold out before he could obtain tickets.
When Yorfido saw Tyler, he immediately identified the superstar and gave him a huge hug. Tyler hugged him back, and gave Yorfido’s mother, Diane, a kiss for what local newspaper Niagara Falls Review called “good measure.” When Tyler asked whether Yorfido would be at the show that night, Yorfido confided about his ticket conundrum.
“He’s like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about that, you guys are coming with me. I’ll get you backstage passes,'” said Diane. But Tyler didn’t just give Yorfido tickets. Niagara Falls Review reports:
As Tyler took the stage to Sweet Emotion, he shouted “Anthony’s in the house!” and brought him out to play the maracas[.]
“I was talking with people at work last night and they’re like ‘That was your son on stage?’ (Tyler) told the band to lower their music and he had the microphone right on the maracas. He was like, ‘Keep going, Anthony! Keep going!'”
The next morning, Diane says her son woke up emotional, elated that Steven Tyler had made his dream come true.
“He woke up this morning going ‘Oh my God, mom.’ He showed me the set list, he was crying. He was so excited. He said ‘This is the best thing that ever happened to me in my life.'”
At the medical supply store that initiated the chance meeting, Tyler told the mother-son duo: ‘I didn’t come in here to get a back brace, I came in here to meet my new buddy Anthony.’