Help Ryan Hoo Run Again
Donation protected
September 8, 2015, 15 year old Ryan Hoo just finished playing with his Carmel High School JV soccer team. He walked across the field after his game with his coach and when he reached his car, he collapsed in his mothers arms saying, “I can’t feel my leg!” Ryan and Mom went directly to the urgent care over in Southeast and then bused to Putnam Hospital. After 3 hours at the hosptial, Ryan was air lifted for a 20 minute helicopter ride to the trauma center at Westchester Medical Center, Maria Ferrari and spent 1 ½ weeks.
Tonni his mom, "What a scary moment. I felt like I was dreaming. Watching my healthy 15 year old son lying on the gurney crying in pain but yet can’t move or feel his right leg at all. I felt helpless! All I can do is comfort him and tell him everything would be all right. But I was lying because I really didn’t know the extent of his injury. I didn’t know if what he was experiencing would be permanent and this day changed the path of his life forever."
After a week and a half at Westchester Medical Hospital, Ryan was discharged in a wheel chair, his right leg paralyzed with no ability of movement nor feeling. Here is a heathy, active teenager who plays every sport there is competitively and now he is confined to a wheelchair and walker. Diagnoses……unknown! Ryan went through a battery of tests; MRIs, CTs, Cat Scans, blood work, medications. Saw many doctors and specialist; orthopedists, 2 neurologists, physical therapists, psychologist, and all along while he was was being tested and evaulated ….no one understood what happened to Ryan because all his tests came back negative. “We can’t find anything physically wrong with him” the doctors said. Ryan left the hospital with no answers regarding his condition.
Since leaving the hospital, Ryan had visited various specialist and doctors, looking for a diagnosis to his condition all the while racking up co-payments and out of pocket expenses due to insurance not covering these visits.
Eventually a neurologist diagnosed Ryan with Conversion Disorder, also called Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder. Its a condition in which you show psychological stress in physical ways. The condition was so named to describe a health problem that starts as a mental or emotional crisis — a scary or stressful incident of some kind — and converts to a physical problem. For example, in conversion disorder, your leg may become paralyzed after you fall from a horse, even though you weren't physically injured. Conversion disorder signs and symptoms appear with no underlying physical cause, and you can't control them.
The neurologist says Ryan must do physical therapy, see a therapist, and stay on his meds. However, after 2 weeks of reciving PT, their insurance denied future treatments due to no change in his condition. They said it was not a medical necessity and that PT was not working. Still with no answers regarding Ryan's paralysis and no medical insurance, it was a concern to continue Ryan's therapy sessions and most importantly keep his muscles moving. The family was able to lean on the hearts of the instructors at Wing-Over-Water where Ryan trained when he was young. They were able to find time to get him in the water to help him keep moving. Of course it comes with a price and the family is paying out of pocket.
Still seeking specialist to help and looking for answers, Ryan was seen by NYU Langone Medical Center in NY by a Pediatric Rheumatologist. The doctor agreed with the diagnoses of Conversion Disorder but added Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.
Relex sympathetic Dystropy or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic systemic disease characterized by severe pain, swelling, and changes in the skin. CRPS often worsens over time. It may initially affect an arm or leg and spread throughout the body; 35% of people report symptoms throughout their whole body.
The Rheumatologist is the only doctor that laid out a definite plan for Ryan’s recovery…… continue with PT, see a therapist, and remain on his meds with a stricter and more comprehensive regiment within a 3 month period in hopes to see Ryan back in his office without the aid of a wheelchair or walker, but on his two feet, walking!
In order to accomplish that 3 month goal, its important for Ryan to continue without any interrruption to receive his physical and acquatic therapy, his sessions with the therapist, and able to continue to see the Pediatric Rheumatologist. With no medical insurance to pay the bills and hefty incurring expenses, I am asking friends, family and the community to find it in their hearts and please help support Ryan with his medical expenses so he may continue getting the help he needs to regain his health and the ability to "Walk".
If you know Ryan, he has never complained and always has the biggest smile on his face. Please donate to help Ryan walk again. He has his whole life ahead of him and with your donation it can help him on his way towards recovery. No donation is too small. Thank you and God Bless!
Tonni his mom, "What a scary moment. I felt like I was dreaming. Watching my healthy 15 year old son lying on the gurney crying in pain but yet can’t move or feel his right leg at all. I felt helpless! All I can do is comfort him and tell him everything would be all right. But I was lying because I really didn’t know the extent of his injury. I didn’t know if what he was experiencing would be permanent and this day changed the path of his life forever."
After a week and a half at Westchester Medical Hospital, Ryan was discharged in a wheel chair, his right leg paralyzed with no ability of movement nor feeling. Here is a heathy, active teenager who plays every sport there is competitively and now he is confined to a wheelchair and walker. Diagnoses……unknown! Ryan went through a battery of tests; MRIs, CTs, Cat Scans, blood work, medications. Saw many doctors and specialist; orthopedists, 2 neurologists, physical therapists, psychologist, and all along while he was was being tested and evaulated ….no one understood what happened to Ryan because all his tests came back negative. “We can’t find anything physically wrong with him” the doctors said. Ryan left the hospital with no answers regarding his condition.
Since leaving the hospital, Ryan had visited various specialist and doctors, looking for a diagnosis to his condition all the while racking up co-payments and out of pocket expenses due to insurance not covering these visits.
Eventually a neurologist diagnosed Ryan with Conversion Disorder, also called Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder. Its a condition in which you show psychological stress in physical ways. The condition was so named to describe a health problem that starts as a mental or emotional crisis — a scary or stressful incident of some kind — and converts to a physical problem. For example, in conversion disorder, your leg may become paralyzed after you fall from a horse, even though you weren't physically injured. Conversion disorder signs and symptoms appear with no underlying physical cause, and you can't control them.
The neurologist says Ryan must do physical therapy, see a therapist, and stay on his meds. However, after 2 weeks of reciving PT, their insurance denied future treatments due to no change in his condition. They said it was not a medical necessity and that PT was not working. Still with no answers regarding Ryan's paralysis and no medical insurance, it was a concern to continue Ryan's therapy sessions and most importantly keep his muscles moving. The family was able to lean on the hearts of the instructors at Wing-Over-Water where Ryan trained when he was young. They were able to find time to get him in the water to help him keep moving. Of course it comes with a price and the family is paying out of pocket.
Still seeking specialist to help and looking for answers, Ryan was seen by NYU Langone Medical Center in NY by a Pediatric Rheumatologist. The doctor agreed with the diagnoses of Conversion Disorder but added Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.
Relex sympathetic Dystropy or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic systemic disease characterized by severe pain, swelling, and changes in the skin. CRPS often worsens over time. It may initially affect an arm or leg and spread throughout the body; 35% of people report symptoms throughout their whole body.
The Rheumatologist is the only doctor that laid out a definite plan for Ryan’s recovery…… continue with PT, see a therapist, and remain on his meds with a stricter and more comprehensive regiment within a 3 month period in hopes to see Ryan back in his office without the aid of a wheelchair or walker, but on his two feet, walking!
In order to accomplish that 3 month goal, its important for Ryan to continue without any interrruption to receive his physical and acquatic therapy, his sessions with the therapist, and able to continue to see the Pediatric Rheumatologist. With no medical insurance to pay the bills and hefty incurring expenses, I am asking friends, family and the community to find it in their hearts and please help support Ryan with his medical expenses so he may continue getting the help he needs to regain his health and the ability to "Walk".
If you know Ryan, he has never complained and always has the biggest smile on his face. Please donate to help Ryan walk again. He has his whole life ahead of him and with your donation it can help him on his way towards recovery. No donation is too small. Thank you and God Bless!
Organizer and beneficiary
Laura Leong Wong
Organizer
Carmel, NY
Tonni Young
Beneficiary