Support Ryan's Move to a Brighter Future

RYAN’s New Life in AUSTIN!

We are Cliff and Sue Peppers. On behalf of our nephew, Ryan Hickey, we are humbly asking for your support.

Over twenty years ago, Ryan suffered a traumatic brain injury in a single-car accident. After waking from a 30-day coma, by God’s grace alone, Ryan made amazing progress. However, he was left with the long-term effects of TBI: blindness in one eye, weakness on one side, and the hard work of just living every day.

He has been living on his own in an upstairs apartment for the last five years in Prescott, Arizona. Weaknesses in Ryan’s legs caused him to be less stable. He has sustained injuries after two serious falls down the stairs. A real heartbreak for him was when he had to resign from his job last year as a special education teacher's aide due to health issues. To keep from being idle, Ryan used YouTube classes to self-train in spray paint artistry. It turns out he is very gifted in creating nature art. Ryan’s plan is to sell his canvas creations as well as greeting cards with his designs on them. Still, he is too isolated where he currently lives, which impacts his emotional well-being.

Ryan’s family lives in Texas. It has been his heart’s desire to be closer to them, celebrating holidays and being a more involved uncle in his nephew's and nieces' lives. Although he’s been on wait lists for over five years for a safer living arrangement, nothing, until now, has been offered. There is much competition for ADA-accessible, low-income apartments. Another challenge for Ryan was to find a place where he could also paint.

Last week, the most remarkable thing happened. Through a referral, we became aware of an AMAZING housing opportunity for Ryan in Austin, Texas! “Live Make” is an apartment community designed for people with disabilities (and some non-disabled) who are low-income and are also artists! Remarkably, there was NO WAIT LIST! Within five days, with the help of his Texas family, the paperwork was completed, and Ryan was approved to move there before the end of this month. AND, he finally has a downstairs room!

This is an unexpected, overwhelming blessing. Ryan will now be within a few hours of his father, stepmom, brother, sister, and their families! There is a church within 3 miles and a TBI support group meeting 6 miles away. Ryan’s entire life is about to change for the better! To top it all off, there is a huge art studio on the campus where he can paint to his heart's desire.

Without much time to prepare, we are all hustling to make this move happen on April 27th. His needs:

• Moving expenses – rental car big enough for the belongings he will take, along with his companion dog, Sweet Pea. Also, this will help all helpers with travel to assist Ryan with this move and help him get set up with medical and disability services in his new community.

• Furnishings for his new studio apartment (his old furniture is not worth moving. These were all hand-me-downs during his adult life, and they are simply done). We have begun an Amazon Housewarming gift site to help refurnish his apartment – if you would prefer to purchase something for him there. https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/owner-view/3HELZG314HM4A?ref_=list_d_gl_lfu_nav

This GoFundMe covers all those expenses. We have set up an Amazon Gift Registry as a Housewarming event for Ryan. We will post the Amazon list when we get closer to arriving in Austin.

PLEASE JOIN US in blessing Ryan as he begins this new chapter of his life!

To see Ryan’s art, please look on FACEBOOK for Patch Art.