Second grader gets Valentine visit

WAYCROSS - Most school days, second-grader Hannah Tyre only sees her classmates on a computer screen from a wheelchair in her bedroom. <br> <br> But this Valentine&#39;s Day, she&#39;ll get a treat: a rare in-person visit to Jill Johnson&#39;s classroom. <br> <br> Tyre was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disease that leaves her with brittle bones. With her legs and arms shortened by the disease, she is unable to walk and spends her days lying in bed, on the floor or sitting in a wheelchair. <br> <br> A person with the disorder can break a rib while coughing, or a leg by rolling over while sleeping. Between 20,000 and 50,000 people in the United States have OI. <br> <br> Tyre attends class through video cameras that were linked from Ruskin Elementary School to her house this year. Before that, her school lessons were homebound. <br> <br> From the school Friday, substitute teacher Donna Sullivan included Tyre in the lesson on nouns. <br> <br> ``What&#39;s the next one, Hannah?&#39;&#39; Sullivan asked. <br> <br> Reading her screen, Hannah answered, ``Soccer.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``Is that a person, place or thing?&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``A thing.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``That&#39;s right,&#39;&#39; Sullivan said. ``I don&#39;t know anyone named soccer.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The computer in the home has been an important step toward giving Hannah a more normal life, said her mother, Cindy Tyre. <br> <br> ``I love it,&#39;&#39; she said. ``It&#39;s wonderful. She&#39;s able to focus in a classroom now. She&#39;s never been able to do that.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> After Friday&#39;s lesson, classmate Maria Morfin sang happy birthday to Tyre in Spanish and then the entire class sang it in English. Tyre turns 8 this coming Saturday. <br> <br> When she&#39;s not in class, Tyre plays in her room with Barbie dolls and her Polly Pockets, which are tiny toy people with plastic clothes and cars. <br> <br> If she wants to watch TV, her mother puts her in a plastic playpen on the living room floor. The playpen is meant to protect her from accidentally getting hurt by her 2-year-old brother, Colton. <br> <br> Tyre is vulnerable to accidentally breaking bones, and she sleeps with oxygen because she has asthma. Pneumonia is a constant worry because she&#39;s gotten it so many times. <br> <br> ``I think eight or nine times,&#39;&#39; Cindy Tyre said. ``I&#39;ve lost count.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Despite the limitations, Hannah&#39;s parents try to let her do as much as possible. <br> <br> ``We don&#39;t treat her different,&#39;&#39; said Bryant Tyre. ``We try to let her live life to the fullest.&#39;&#39;

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