Ryder's Story
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Two months before diagnosis� ���� ��~���� � ��Two days before entering the hospital for the last time����
This is a brief history of Ryder's battle, as we could go on and on with details, stories and memories. We just wanted to tell a bit of Ryder's story for those who didn't know.
On February 21, 1997, at the age of fifteen months, Ryder was diagnosed with a brain tumor.....and so his battle began. We had taken him to the doctor because one of his eyes was wiggling (nystagmus). An MRI showed the tumor. On February 26, Ryder had a craniotomy to try and remove the tumor. The tumor was on his optic nerve (optic nerve glioma) and wrapped around things that they couldn't peel it off of, so they took what they could. The pathology report showed the tumor to be benign, so we were thankful for that. Ryder recovered well from surgery, besides his pituitary gland not working anymore. He just had to take some medicines to make up for the lack of hormone. At that point, the doctors decided not to treat it with any chemo or radiation therapies.
Ryder had to have MRIs every three months to check the tumor. The MRI in November, 1997 showed the tumor had grown some. In December, Ryder had a shunt placed in his head for hydrocephalus and a port placed to help administer his chemotherapy. He began chemo in January 1998. Over two and a half years, he was on seven different kinds of chemo. He had eight surgeries and sixteen MRIs in the four year battle with the tumor.
When he was about two and a half, Ryder lost his sight from the tumor. It really didn't bother him at all. He got around very well. He could pick up any toy and within a couple seconds tell you what it was. He also knew everyone just by touching their hands. When Mom would go pick him up at school, she would just touch his hand and he would say 'Mom!' Or if Dad would go in his room in the morning to wake him up, he would just give him his hand and he would know it was Dad. Ryder was very cheerful in the mornings. We would go in to wake him up for school and he would sit right up and say 'Good morning!' We would ask him how he was feeling because sometimes he was a little nauseous, and he would usually say 'I feel pretty good, how are you feeling?'
Ryder truely touched the lives of all his family and friends. He taught us all so much about life. He was a little people person. He had the best sense of humor. Ryder loved to be out shopping, especially at Old Navy. He loved his Old Navy clothes. He really liked music too. Not little kid tunes, but the hits on the radio. His most favorite was Britney Spears.
Ryder had been doing well up until September, 2000. He had a really fun summer. He started having a few headaches in September. In October he had surgery to drain some cysts around the tumor. A couple weeks after the surgery, he had a TIA, which is like a mini stroke. It lasted about 30 minutes and he was fine. On November 6, 2000, Ryder was admitted to the hospital for diarrhea associated with the chemo he was on. It just went downhill from there. He quit talking and wasn't walking much. He would still hold hands and give hugs and we know he could understand us. But the tumor was slowly growing and compressing his brain stem.
Ryder spent his 5th birthday in the hospital, actually in PICU. We also had his last Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year in the hospital. So we got to know our doctors and nurses quite well. And we came away from there with some good friends. Ryder had the best doctors and nurses at both of the hospitals in the two states he was treated in. We spent three months in the hospital. Ryder lost his battle with the tumor on the morning of February 5, 2001.
Gone from our sight
But never our memories
Gone from our touch
But never our hearts
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
~R. Kelly~
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