I bet you’re wondering why someone like me has a story on Band-Aides. Well, I have a medical condition called VATERS association, with the letters standing for an assortment of problems...can't even remember what stands for what.  I've pretty much always had medical problems since I was born with this odd VATERS thing, but there's a lot I don’t really remember because I was a baby when I had operations to fix some of the problems. I still have to cope with the effect of VATERS on my lungs and my digestive tract (my stomach and the tube that runs from my mouth to my stomach called the esophagus).  I’ve had around 30 surgeries and procedures (15 of them major); most before I was 9-years-old. Understandably, this made going to school and making friends pretty hard.  I used to get this really bad cough that I couldn’t control, and the other kids spent a lot of time making fun of it, so by the time I was 9, I was pretty depressed.  Around that time I got an idea to write a story to try and make myself feel better.  My mom helped me type it, and once it was done, my parents had it illustrated and published and it got sent to some children's hospitals around the country!  I got lots of letters from kids it had helped, which, in turn, helped me deal much better with how I was feeling about my illness.

After a major surgery that same year, I had seven years of fairly good health. Until now. This past year I got pretty sick again.  I had to go to Boston for an 18 hour surgery where the doctors took part of my intestine and replaced it with the lower part of my esophagus.  While I’m feeling much better now, the past few months have been really hard.  Imagine thinking you were doing well and were healthy, then finding out you were really, really sick and had to go through the same tests and procedures all over again.  It's rough, but luckily my family has been with me through it all so at least I’m not alone.  It helps me to look towards the future, and hope that the tests, procedures and operations are all coming to an end. Right now, I feel good, and I’m just living and enjoying one healthy day at a time.  If you have to deal with some sort of medical problem, here's some Ryan wisdom, free! Try and take time off from your disease regularly, and enjoy the good things in life…have a party, go for a walk if you can, don’t let the disease (whatever it is) run your life.  Enjoy the people and things in your life that you love...they make the tough times a little more bearable.
 

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