"[My family] said I was sick, like, every other day," Turner said last week from the Washington office of his agent, David Falk. "They were wondering if I was ever going to be fully healthy, live a normal life."
Turner, 21, obviously does not remember all the details, but he does remember countless visits to doctors, "trying to get help."
"When you're a little kid, you're just used to it," Turner said. "I always thought, 'Something is always wrong. That's part of life.' "
His mom, Iris James, was right there for all of it.
"Measles, pneumonia, eczema, rashes, adenoids," she said from Chicago. "It was just one thing after the other. It was a mess."
Eventually, he put most of the illnesses behind him.
"And then he started becoming accident-prone," James said.
And then kids made fun of the way he talked.
"I remember going to speech classes," Turner said. "My mom really worked with me to get my speaking right, just made sure I enunciated my words."
Turner did not get completely comfortable speaking in public until high school.
Turner distinctly remembers his bout with Bell's palsy. He was 10. A part of his face was paralyzed.
"I was on my way to a parade," he said. "I had to go brush my teeth. When I went to brush my teeth, part of my face wouldn't lift up. I wanted to go to the parade really bad, but my mom made me go to the hospital."
James remembers the moment vividly.
"He said, 'Mom, something is wrong with my face,' " James said. "I was like, 'Just go wash your face.' He said, 'No, really.' "
James knew almost instantly what it was. She had suffered bouts of Bell's palsy, too, the first time when she was in her 20s. She recovered fully from the first two incidents. She got it again only 2 years ago. She is doing much better, but has not made a full recovery yet.
