 |
Our superhero
Since the day Ryan was born we new he was a special child. He had wide opened eyes that just took our breath away. He always had a strong neck and could hold it up since birth. At 6 months he was crawling at 9 months he was walking & at a year he could talk in sentences. Todd would often say with his temper, "it was the Irish in him" He is very strong willed, independent, courageous and had no fear of anything. He loved climbing on anything and everything. One day daddy went upstairs to finish laundry and Ry-Ry climbed on top of the fishtank. If I took him into a store, he never came out empty handed, beacuse if he did, he would scream at the top of lungs like I had just beat him.
Ryan always made sure that every child was included. He felt sorry for other children if they were not playing in the group. At 2 he had a love for baseball, and we were sure he would grow up to be a star. He could hit the ball over the fence when he stood in the middle of our yard.
His love for superhero's also began. First it was buzzlightyear, he thought he could leap from couch to chair back to the couch in a single leap. Then came Spiderman, he thought if a spider bite him he could become spiderman and crawl up walls and swing from building to building. At the hospital Ryan would put all the doctors and nurses in the spiderweb, he would call them the green goblin. The ones that got webbed were honored because that meant he liked them.
When Ryan got sick at the age of 3 1/2 he went through a stage of depression unlike anything we have ever seen. He did not want any one to see him like that. He was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma (a rare childhood brain cancer) on Feb 5, 2003. The doctors told us once it hits the spine it is very hard to get rid of and his had spread all over his brain and all the way down his spine. He suffered a stroke due to the shunt placement and it paralyzed his right side. He was able to gain some of his movement back. Radiation and chemo was next for 6 straight weeks, 5 days a week. He did very good through it with no complications. Then once a month he needed chemo treatments. We switched to Children's Memorial hospital during the middle of his treatments, due to many unhappy moments with Luthern General. His first chemo treatment at Children's landed him in the ICU, he almost died due to imbalance in his sodium levels and a shunt revision. Sept. was his last chemo and he was free of disease until Feb 04. We celebrated his Make A wish trip to disney world the week of New Year's. It was very memorable, he meet every character and went on every ride without having to wait in line. They put us up at the Yaht Club, which was very beautiful, the view of our room looked out onto the lake, beach & many weddings ceremonies.
He also got to meet Spiderman, his favorite. For the next year he kept telling everyone of his trip. He has a star with is name on it at Give Kids The World Village in a room with many stars on the ceiling. We can visit it any time we like.
Feb. 04 Ryan's tumor came back but not in the same spot. He had 3 tumors , one on the forehead and one on each temple. For a year he underwent many different types of chemo.He had a second stroke from the radiation that set back his right sided weakness , but just for a while. He made sure it didn't stop him from playing. During his many stays at Children's Ryan love for the playroom kept him going. It was his life, he loved doing crafts or just being around other children. He knew this was his life and always wanted to make the best of each and every day. His doc. Stewert Goldman made a huge impact on all of us. He gave us hope and insured us he would do anything possible to help keep Ryan with us forever. Stu has a balding head and Ryan would bend his head over and kiss him. They played with him all the time, Ryan would chase them down the hall and put them in a spiderweb. Another favorite was Jim the chaplain, who often played spiderman with him. Wendy was Ryan's girlfriend, she would come visit him in his hospital room and give him many kisses. Ryan would hide his face to avoid the kisses. We knew when Ryan needed a shunt revision because he would start chasing her for kisses. We uncovered a new family at this hospital and they all just adored Ryan and we just adored them- even if mom didn't show it all the time. Monica, Gina, Mary, Stephanie, Bunny, Pam, Lauren and all the nurses on the 3rd & 4th floor helped tried to make us feel more comfortable during our stays, when it was the furthest from home.
Ryan had many phrases & songs he loved to share. He loved the song " I believe I can fly" which we have playing on this site. Another one is " I like big butts". One day at the hospital, a nurse with a big butt walked in and Ryan started singing it, Todd and I busted out laughing and luckily enough this nurse did not hear him.
He loved this phrase from the little rascals " I hate your stinking guts, you make me vomit, your the scum between my toes, Love Alfalfa.His favorite drink was chocolate milk. His favorite color was red and in turn most of his favorite heros were red - the red power ranger, the red ninja turtle, spiderman, others not red were, incredible hulk & the thing. We have learned a lot from Ryan, his love for life, his strength, his courage, his ability to make people laugh and smile.
Dec 26 thru Feb 11 Ryan underwent Lethal doses of chemo followed by a stem cell transplant. He almost died during it. He had a lot of complications that he soon recovered from. His MRI showed that the tumors had decreased in size but were still there and some coating. We started him on an oral chemo and he started having at least 8 seizures a day, the mri revealed the tumors grew 90%. At that time we packed up our car and took Ryan to disney world. He had the best time swimming in the pool and meeting all the characters. His favorite ride was Buzzlightyear. Then we took him to Universal Studios where he met Spiderman for the 2nd time. He had the pleasure of eating breakfast with him. That was the best day of our lives, he hugged him and asked if he could beat up the green goblin with him. He did not let him out of his site the whole time we where there. By the end of the trip he was having a seizure every hour. When we arrived home we were told he had days to weeks to live ( in June). He started having headaches a few weeks later and we took him in for a catscan and they said it was like the tumors just exploded- it was everywhere. We put him on different oral chemo but he was declining to the point where it would not help, so we took him off it and let him go in peace.
We will forever remember and honor
this very special Angel
who changed our world in the
very short time
God lent him to us
|
His legacy
Add to favorites 
