Ryan was initially diagnosed with an auto-immune disease called Ulcerative Colitis in 2017. Fortunately, he was on a medication that worked flawlessly for the majority of the time since his diagnosis, allowing him to live a normal life. Gradually however, the medication became ineffective and symptoms of the disease started to resurface. A follow-up colonoscopy in May of 2023 revealed a progression in the disease as well as a new diagnosis of not Ulcerative Colitis, but Crohn’s Disease, a version of IBD that is more aggressive and effects both the large and small intestines. Over the course of nine months, Ryan attempted and failed three new biologic medications while his symptoms and condition continued to dramatically deteriorate. This ultimately came to a head on January 12th, 2024, when Ryan’s inflammation levels grew so high that hospitalization was necessary. After an eight day stay at Good Samaritan Medical Center, we felt hopeful with Ryan’s progress and for a new start in his healing. Unfortunately, after a few weeks of progress, the symptoms began to return and Ryan deteriorated rapidly, specifically losing massive amounts of blood. On Saturday, February 10th, 2024, Ryan was rushed to the ER and was regularly losing consciousness due to loss of blood. Further testing, examinations, and procedures revealed ulcers caused by the Crohn’s to be the source of bleeding. After being transferred to the ICU and a total of 9 units of blood, Ryan underwent a successful right colon resection surgery in order to remove a heavily diseased section of his colon and rejoin the remaining colon with the small intestine on February 17th. He is currently healing generally well from surgery, though a lot needs to go right over the next week before he can return home to continue to heal. The surgery fixed one diseased area, though there are still other areas that are problematic, meaning the journey does not end once he leaves the hospital. 
Ryan and Lilly have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from friends and family during the last months and weeks. Many others close to Ryan and Lilly have expressed their desire to help in a variety of ways. Although initially hesitant with the idea, they’ve come to welcome the idea of allowing people to give financially towards the burden of medical expenses both from the hospitalizations and ongoing treatment (specialist follow-up appointments, expensive medications, labs, functional medical consultations, specialized diet accommodations, etc.) Ryan and Lilly are immensely grateful for the community of people that God has placed around them for support and have felt the comfort of everyone’s prayers and love, even if from a distance in this time.

Isabella Licata

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Holt Patton

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Mark DeVido

Colleen Combs

Kimberly Wade

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Medical Support for Ryan Fink

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