PURPOSE OF RYAN'S REACH:
Ryan's Reach was started as a result of gratitude. Ryan has REACHED out to God, family, friends, and the medical community to grasp his recovery from a severe brain injury. I am inspired when I realize the way he has had to hold on to his life and faith, knowing that God is not through with him yet. If you know Ryan you know he is a leader. He will work the hardest and sacrifice the most to see that a job gets done w e l l, which is why
he's always risen to the top. He was the student body president in the sixth grade and again in the eighth grade. He was the captain of his basketball team in high school and president of his fraternity in college. Even though he
wasn't the best student or athlete, he led his friends and schoolmates because of his work ethics and his ability to encourage and motivate. When I first brought Ryan to High Hopes, a rehabilitation facility for brain injured students, I reminded him of his accomplishments. I told him I BELIEVED he would do what he has always done— give 100% effort toward his recovery and lead others by his example.
There is a "two-handed" explanation for calling the foundation
Ryan's Reach. As I said, with one hand Ryan has reached out for his own recovery. With the other hand, I know Ryan wants to bring along as many people as he can. Leading by example, Ryan wants to encourage people to recover to their full potential. I know his heart and effort will inspire the other students. I also know he would like to have a foundation in his name that helps provide some of the necessities of care and therapy that might otherwise not be available to other head injured adults.
After insurance has run out, families with loved ones like Ryan often have no other choice but to leave them in a sub-acute facility which gives care but little rehabilitation. Stimulation needs to be constant to come back from a head injury. The mind and body must be challenged. People need socialization. High Hopes has provided us with this necessary help for Ryan. Ryan lives at home and attends High Hopes four days a week as a student. While other programs exist, they are for profit and most families
can't even consider them because of their high cost. High Hopes is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to providing comprehensive rehabilitation programs and services for head injured adults. It is a full- service day treatment program where the students receive cognitive rehabilitation, physical therapy, water therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy, among other things.
Ryan's Reach hopes to help High Hopes expand so they can offer these services to more people. Currently, they can only accommodate 50 students at a time. The need for these services is far greater. There are 50,000 people a year across the country that need High Hopes. We
don't want to exclude anyone from these services for their loved ones due to lack of funds or space at High Hopes. We need to help them expand by opening new facilities. This is the main goal of Ryan's Reach.
As a mother of a head injured son, I know that it was an instinct of motherhood telling me that Ryan would do better at home than in a care facility. Of course he had to be stable medically, in order to have him live at home and still have a semblance of family life for our other teenage son, I also knew I would need help in caring for Ryan. This kind of care is necessary but it is not covered by most insurance plans. I believe with all my heart that one of the reasons Ryan is doing as well is because we brought him home for the rest of his recovery. I also believe with all my heart that the reason my family is as emotionally in tact is because we could afford caregivers to lift, shower, groom, dress and transfer Ryan. It has given us freedom that we would not have had otherwise. Another goal of
Ryan's Reach is to raise funds to pay for care-giving relief for the families at High Hopes who often have no respite from the constant care of their loved ones.
As a small foundation we are limited to being a supporting organization to High Hopes. Unfortunately, we are unable to respond to individual requests we receive from around the country. As Ryan's Reach grows, and High Hopes expands, we certainly hope to expand our "reach" throughout the country. What we are willing to share, however, is "know-how". High Hopes was started by dedicated families of head injured loved ones. It has carried on through the tireless efforts of dedicated staff, volunteers and persons willing to raise funds. We are very willing to pass on our experience in this area.
Like I said in the beginning, Ryan's Reach was started as a result of gratitude. We are grateful that Ryan survived and is recovering. We are thankful we found High Hopes. We are also thankful for some of the things we could afford that helped Ryan get well faster. We are excited to have the opportunity to make these same things available to others who are equally desperate to have their loved ones functioning again.
In short, the money you donate to Ryan’s Reach will go toward: 1.) Funding the expansion of High Hopes, 2.) providing scholarships to brain injury survivors to attend High Hopes and 3.) eventually providing care-giving relief to families who are financially unable to pay for these services for their brain injured loved ones.
We thank God for what He has done for Ryan & we thank you for your donation.
Lindy Michaelis
|
