Ryder was just turning 3 when we met him and his mother Karrie at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. He’d recently undergone a cord blood transplant. His doctor said nothing less severe would offer a possible cure.
Unlike your typical toddler, Ryder was very subdued. But his mom, thrilled to still have him, was optimistic.
She said, “He’s not as active as he used to be. They said, in time, that will all come back.”
And boy, did it! When we checked in about six months later, we didn’t recognize the active boy with a full head of hair. When his mom threw him a plastic ball, he hit it across the room. He was also happy to show off pictures from a recent stomach scan.
Doctors had pronounced Ryder cancer-free. Fast forward eight years. Ryder enjoys sports, playing baseball on the field and on screen. He’s still cancer-free, but the intensive therapy, as a toddler, weakened his heart,
“I was getting dressed and I just got like really dizzy.
Medication was expected to keep the condition called cardiomyopathy under control, but instead Ryder went into congestive heart failure.
“He gets a bear hug is what he calls it. He feels like a balloon pulled by a string and he gets out of breath,” his mother explained.
Ryder says, “it can happen if I’m even like just sitting here. It can happen at any time.”
Now, his cardiologist says Ryder needs another drastic treatment in order to save his life. “He’s just like, ‘your heart’s really sick and we can’t fix it, so you’re going to need like a heart transplant,'” Ryder remembers.
“This is what God’s plan is,” Karrie says. “All Ryder needs is a new heart and now he has a completely fresh start. He cured him from cancer he’s going to give him a new heart .”
Ryder says, in the meantime, he doesn’t want any special treatment. He’s says he’s just trying to be a regular guy.
And he’s focusing on the next fun in his life, cardiac camp for kids…
“I am super stoked. I am like, I’m freaking out on the inside about it. Like, I can’t wait to go,” Ryder says, with a big smile.
After that, some final testing before he can be put on the heart transplant list.
Karrie says Ryder’s doctor believes he’ll definitely make the list.They feel blessed because the problem was caught early, Ryder’s still healthy other than his heart, and he should do very well.