Ryan's Fight to Fully Live Life

On October 15th, the life of 34-year old Ryan Kalinowski and his family changed forever.  Ryan was a healthy, young entrepreneur living life in Jacksonville, FL with his 2 dogs.  He began feeling sick around the 2nd week of October; coughing and lethargic.  Ryan went to the clinic and received Amoxicillin but there was no change.   He couldn't afford to go to the ER because he missed his September health insurance payment and lost his insurance.  Our mother drove down from SC and took him into the ER on October 15th, 2019 with what we thought was bronchitis.  He was immediately emitted into the ICU, upon arrival, with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).  The staff was shocked he was conscious because his oxygen was less than 50% and his heart was at 20-25%.  He was put on a life-support ventilator and taken to the ICU where he was medically paralyzed and heavily sedated into a medical coma. 

Over the next 3 weeks; culture tests, a bronchoscopy, paralyzing and un-paralyzing him, CT scans and many more medical procedures were done to determine the virus we were fighting. The tests were inconclusive; there was no diagnosis on what was killing Ryan.  Day after day, we waited by his side, not sure if our Big Brother/Son would wake up again. On October 28th, a tracheostomy was performed.  Slowly they started weaning him off sedation and Ryan was taken out of his medical coma but the Doctor's told us he would most likely need a lung transplant and heart transplant.  Days later he was in-and-out of consciousness, learning to re-open his eyes, move his mouth, etc. There have been improvements but he continues on a ventilator, being fed through a tube in his stomach.  He is receiving rehabilitation; learning to move his limbs again, talking, writing, walking, and basic bodily functions. Ryan is fighting off infections, currently pneumonia and 2 blood clots, while we try to get him to a healthy enough spot to leave the ICU for Outpatient Care or into a Tracheotomy Rehabilitation Facility.

The Doctor's are unsure of his long-term recovery process but see possible life-long complications.  His lungs were severly damaged so there is irreversible scar tissue and his heart has improved but still at 45%.
He will indefinitely be on numerous medications and require follow-ups; blood pressure medication, heart rate medication, breathing treatments, doctor visits and the many unknown complications/illnesses that he is now at a high-risk for.

Ryan is the oldest brother of 4 sisters and the only son to his parents, Linda and Patrick.  He has no insurance and can't fight for himself. 

We wanted to set-up this GoFundMe to keep Ryan's friends, our family and others up to date on his progress but also to share his story- about a happy, healthy man who loves to learn new things & live to the fullest.  Ryan has a long-road ahead of him; functioning to live alone again, being able to work a job, walk his dogs and basic everyday functions. He is the most determined, compassionate, fighter we know- and he will keep fighting everyday to fully live life again!  The progress he has made so far- the Doctor's have never seen anything like it- he is a fighter!

Any and all donations will be put towards Ryan's hospital bills at St. Vincent's, medical procedures bills, medication costs, doctor visits, and unfortunately, any other health complications that may arise.

Any and All donations help; $1, $5, whatever you feel you can give....and if you can't give, we thank you for taking the time to read his story and ask that you please send prayers/positive thoughts his and our family's way. 

Love,

Ryan & His Family