[4] Aerts held numerous powerlifting and benchpress championships and records in both open and master's competitions, including California,[5] US,[6][7][8] and World champion.
[clarification needed] Despite this condition, Aerts continued to compete in powerlifting and bench press competitions, and became world champion in his weight class after being diagnosed with the disease.
[16] After years of creating elaborate Christmas season displays (including cookies and punch for visiting children) at his home, with decorations costing in excess of $150,000 and drawing tens of thousands of visitors, Aerts became the target of neighborhood controversy over the traffic, parking, and other disruption to the neighborhood resulting from all the attention to the displays.
Aerts attempted to alleviate concerns by hiring private security to help with traffic management on the four-home court where he lived.
In protest, the Aerts' raised a statue of The Grinch, which garnered the event attention and coverage in media including The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Daily Show on Comedy Central, MSNBC, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, National Public Radio (NPR), and local newspapers and television shows.