Nelson Miles, 22, of Long Beach, has cerebral palsy but "when he air drums, his disability goes away," his mother, Tuesday Miles, told Patch.

The day following Christmas Nelson was presented with his own snare drum, gifted to him by members of the Long Beach Junior Concert Band, which the young man loves to watch.

Nelson, who suffers from partial paralysis on his right side, got the surprise of his life when he was 16 and the band showed up at his birthday party.

Since then, the band has sort of adopted Nelson, letting him watch practices and even once, saluting him during a parade, his mother said.

"They've been in his life ever since,'' Tuesday Miles told City News Service. "He knows every move, every song.

"The band has taken him in," she told Patch.

“They guide him and train him and help him,” she said, adding that Nelson "memorizes every single step" in a drum routine and meticulously repeats it.

According to Tuesday Miles, Nelson owns 100 drum sticks and plays in the air all  the time.

When Christmas rolled around, Tuesday Miles said she had a great idea.

"He’s really hard to buy for … he’s got high-level autism, along with cerebral palsy," she told Patch.

Tuesday Miles posted on Facebook a request for a used drum she could buy and the band jumped into action, raising the money and buying a drum for Nelson.

"He loves the band,'' said Don Koegle, a supporter of the band. "He's kind of been a fixture. He loves the drums, and we're glad we're able to do this for him."

Koegle said the band presented Nelson with sticks and the drum in front of his Long Beach home.