Help us give Ryan a funeral
This is my best friend Ryan and his loving partner of 8 years Steven. They took this photo in hospital, where Ryan spent most of his life, especially during this year. It was the last photo they took together.
Ryan was born with a chronic illness called Cystic Fibrosis which he has suffered with his whole life. I will provide a link at the bottom of the page so you can read about this illness in greater detail and the devastating effects it has on the sufferer's body and quality of life.
Cystic Fibrosis meant that Ryan has never been well enough to do the normal things we tend to take for granted such as having a job, career or planning for the future. Ryan absolutely loved primary school, but by the time he reached high school his health had declined. He would be in and out of hospital several times a year for the rest of his life, the stays becoming longer and longer as the years went by. He always knew his life was going to be limited, difficult and that he would reach a stage where a lung transplant would be his only chance of survival.
Despite being faced with this, Ryan was such an upbeat, fun loving person who never complained. He tried to be positive at all times and make the most of his life - in the limited way he could. I spent so many happy times with him that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Ryan filled my life, and so many others, with laughter and happiness. But as his illness became more serious, I couldn't even walk around the park with him, as he couldn't breathe at all.
As we watched Ryan become more unwell and the hospital stays became much longer and more frequent, we knew that the time for the transplant had arrived. However, Ryan did not make it in time.
After 3 months in hospital, his longest ever hospital admission, he sadly passed away Wednesday 13th September aged 27 years old.
He was kind, caring and the funniest person I ever met. He loved music, animals, playing the violin, gaming (Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider especially), singing and rollercoasters. He was never scared to go on the biggest and scariest rides, he was up for anything and lived his life to the fullest. He was so generous and always wanted to help others. Even when he was suffering Ryan still took time to give a helping hand or words of advice to whoever needed it.
I made this page to ensure that my best friend has a funeral. Ryan couldn't work, being in hospital most of his life and his partner was his full time carer for many years. This means that of course there was never enough money to prepare for a situation like this, although we all hoped this day would never come so soon.
We have reached out to family and friends who have helped how they can, but sadly we have no where near enough to cover the costs. The funeral alone is going to cost £4000, applications for funding have been made but we are unsure how much we will receive and when.
It's a huge concern for us as Ryan deserved the best in life, and a good send off is the least we can give him. We also are hoping to raise money towards his headstone, which we hope to have in place before Ryan's birthday 17th March.
Any donations at all, even the smallest, will mean the world to us. If you are unable to donate, we just please ask if you can share the page so that any one who is in a position to donate can.
If we are lucky enough to raise more than the cost of the funeral and head stone, we will donate the remaining balance to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
Thank you for reading Ryan's story, and for any donations and shares.
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Here is the link I mentioned if you would like to read about Cystic Fibrosis and how it effected Ryan's life and so many others. As you will see from the video on the website, people born with Cystic Fibrosis can now live up to 47 years old due to advancement in the available treatments.
When Ryan was born he was told he would not live past 8 years old. He far surpassed this at age 27, but was still far too young to be taken from us.
https://www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/what-is-cystic-fibrosis
One of the last times we spent together outside of the hospital. We walked around Cosmeston Lakes together. It was such a beautiful day, but Ryan was struggling a lot to walk and breathe.
