In the season of giving,  please consider supporting our efforts to make this year end in a positive way for the Kelly Family.  To say that this year has been challenging for them is an understatement. 5 year old Rylan was diagnosed, in 2017, with Hydrocephalus. He has endured 4 brain surgeries this year, in hopes of fixing the shunt and alleviating his pain. Rylan is currently experiencing pain and swelling.  He will visit several different doctors to make sure that nothing else is going on before going back in for exploratory surgery.  Along with all of this, has come a lot of financial burden (and heartache). Even with insurance, Rylan’s parents, Mike and Sarah, receive bills for each surgery, copays for every Dr. appt/specialist visit, monthly medicine, parking fees, time missed from work, etc.  

We all know it takes a village sometimes, thank you in advance for your support! And as always, please keep praying that they find a way to fix the shunt and give some relief to Rylan!


Please read below for more on Rylan’s story. 

I was diagnosed with hydrocephalus just a little over two years ago. A couple days after my diagnosis I had brain surgery to have what I call my magic straw placed, it's really a vp shunt but magic straw is so much cooler! My straw starts in my brain with an adjustable valve and then runs all the way down to my tummy to drain the spinal fluid that otherwise would build up in my head causing lots of pain and other bad things. When my straw isn’t working properly I tend to miss a lot of school and other activities.  My straw really helps make my life so much better when it’s working.

This year my straw broke 4 times so I had brain surgery in March, May, September and October with 7 sleeps at the hospital. Brain surgery is not fun and the pain is so bad while the doctors are running all of the tests to see what the problem is. I wish they had a better way to fix my head. After surgery I feel so much better but I still have to wait six weeks to do fun things like swim or ride my bike, it really stinks. Please keep your fingers crossed that my straw doesn't run out of magic again, right now there is no cure for hydrocephalus and getting another magic straw requires more surgery.