How Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia helped this 17-year-old overcome an injury that left him paralyzed
Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia is like a second home for Ryan Stehlik and his mom. It's the place that turned the 17-year-old's life around as he overcame a difficult injury.
"I think they did a lot that a lot of places can't do," said Stehlik, who's from Lehigh County.
Stehlik has been treated at Shriners since he was a baby after a birth injury left his right arm paralyzed.
"My left side is my good side I like to say, and my right side is a little more crooked," Stehlik said.
"The first few years were the scariest because of the unknown factor," Kimberly Stehlik, Ryan's mother, said. "To look at him now, he's the strongest person I know. He has fought hard for everything that he has gotten."
Kimberly Stehlik says nerves in Ryan's neck were damaged when he was delivered weighing almost 11 pounds.
"Several different neurologists kept telling me nothing could be done and I needed to get to a level of acceptance," Kimberly Stehlik said.
Instead, she turned to Shriners, which specializes in treating what's called a brachial plexus injury.
"We did one operation on Ryan and we moved a tendon that would generate more up-and-out movement," Dr. Scott Kozin, of Shriners Hospital, said.
Kozin said there were many other treatments and therapies.
Ryan Stehlik's arm is functioning so well now and he's playing lacrosse all over the country. He says his arm – that doesn't straighten – isn't an issue.
"At this point, it's just part of who I am and what I grew up with and it's what I'm used to," Ryan Stehlik said. "It's not like I'm missing anything. It's not that I'm used to a different kind of lifestyle."
Most recently, Ryan Stehlik was chosen by Shriners to represent Philadelphia in the PGA Children's Open in Las Vegas.
"It was something that not a lot of people had the opportunity to do, so I'm glad I was one of the very few," Ryan Stehlik said.
"We're proud of him and he's proud of us, so it works both ways," Kozin said.
Ryan Stehlik, who's hoping to play lacrosse in college, wants to eventually become a physical therapist – something he's spent a lot of time doing. And now, he hopes to eventually help others.