Yorba Linda boy heading to Russia to climb Mount Elbrus

YORBA LINDA, Calif. (KABC) -- Breaking records is nothing new for 11-year-old Tyler Armstrong.

At age 7, the Yorba Linda boy became the youngest person to climb Mount Whitney in a day. At age 8, he became the second youngest to scale Mount Kilimanjaro.

At age 9, he was the youngest to conquer the more than 22,000 feet of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.

Next week, Armstrong will leave Orange County for Russia to reach for another goal: "I'm going to climb Mount Elbrus," he said.

This will be Armstrong's third of the seven summits, the highest mountains of each seven continents. He trains constantly for the challenging climbs, but it's not just for himself.

"It feels amazing that I've summited this mountain, and I've helped the boys with Duchenne," said Armstrong.

Armstrong is climbing to raise awareness about Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal muscle disease which affects 300,000 boys worldwide. Most are confined to a wheelchair at a young age.

It affects boys like 18-year-old Hawken Miller.

"It's a little bit frustrating for me at times because I can't do the same things my friends can," said Miller.

On Wednesday, Armstrong showed Miller all the gear he needs for his record-setting climb. Miller showed Armstrong what he needs to make it through a single day.

"He kind of asked what was wrong, why they couldn't run around and play and do the same things he could, and he said 'I can do all these kinds of things, what can I do to help?'" said Kevin Armstrong, Tyler Armstrong's dad.

Kevin Armstrong will climb alongside his son.

Next, Tyler Armstrong wants to become the youngest person to climb Mount Everest, but that's just a small piece of his ultimate goal.

"Summit all the seven summits, cure Duchenne and raise more than $1 million on my crowd rise page," he said.

Tyler Armstrong's selfless goals are an encouragement to Miller and many other boys battling the disease.

"Just amazing he found a cause that he's passionate about and he's pursuing it and he's really making a difference in all those boys' lives," said Miller.

For more information, visit www.crowdrise.com/climbtocureduchenne.