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Ted Tiller gets around his Huntington home in a wheelchair, battling a rare disease that has left him with weakened legs, brain lesions and failing vision.

Since 2009, Tiller, 23, has suffered from mitochondrial disease, a debilitating, often-fatal condition that affects how energy in the body is generated.

Now, on his left wrist, Tiller wears a green band representing the need to conquer his mitochondrial disease

"It's hard to deal with but I've done that for years," said Tiller, who was forced to leave his studies at Nassau Community College when the disease first appeared in 2009. "I've had nurses for two years."

His speech has become so difficult to understand that his mother interprets his words for visitors.

Mitochondrial disease is really a bundle of different conditions, and Tiller's symptoms indicate he has at least one form of the disease called MELAS, an acronym for problems that include weakened limbs, strokes, seizures, loss of vision and hearing, and kidney deterioration.

Each year, up to 4,000 children in the United States inherit mitochondrial diseases, according to the United...