Ryan Erickson
In Ryan\'s short life, he has endured more struggles than most people do in a full lifetime. At age 7 months Ryan suffered his first seizure. Two months later the seizures became more severe occurring every two hours, lasting two to ten minutes each. He spent weeks in the hospital where neurologists diagnosed him with a condition called Hemimegaencephaly. This means that one side of his brain was malformed and larger than the other. This very rare genetic malformation is what caused him to have the severe seizures. Seven different medications were tried and all of them failed. All Ryan did was either seizure or sleep. He had no quality of life what so ever. Luckily, Ryan was a perfect candidate for a surgery called a functional hemispherectomy. This is a procedure where a neurosurgeon would remove the major seizure causing parts of the left side of his brain and then disconnect the remaining left side. This procedure was performed June 1st, 2007 when Ryan was eleven months old. The surgery was a success! It left our son with a healthy brain but only a half a brain. As Ryan\'s parents it was the hardest decision we have ever made but we knew it was completely necessary if we wanted our son to have any chance at a normal life.
The surgery caused Ryan\'s right arm and leg to completely lose strength and movement. He also lost peripheral vision to the right side, and a lot of his basic skills. But he was alive and ready for rehabilitation! Ryan has been receiving physical, occupational and speech therapy 13 hours a week for the last year. He is making a lot of progress. Therapy isn\'t always fun or easy. It is hard work for a little boy who wants so badly to do what most two year old boys can do. He has learned to army crawl and pull himself up to stand by things. He can now say Hi and smile! He is becoming more curious and excited about life.
Ryan just celebrated his birthday! He is now two! He is a two year old moving mountains. He is a happy, social, loving little toddler who loves baths, swimming, cars, being outside and playing with his older brother and sister. He has been seizure free since September of 2007 and is now only taking one seizure medication.
As Ryan\'s mom, I want the world for him just like all mother\'s do for their children. I can not wait for the day that Ryan can walk by himself so he can move and play with his brother and sister and do more things for himself. Ryan needs more therapy to achieve these goals. An intensive therapy center would be so wonderful for this little guy. It would hopefully help him to achieve more goals and give him the life he deserves. We thank you for reading Ryan\'s story and believing is him! With your help, he is going to keep moving mountains.
Sincerely, Julie Erickson