Ryan Ting 2009

In May this year, Ryan missed nearly 5-6 weeks of school. At first, we thought he caught a flu: Slight fever and body aches. After nearly a week with a low-grade fever, Ryan suddenly suffered sever joint pain, starting at the hips, then traveling down to the joints behind the knees, and eventually down to his ankles and feet. The pain was so severe that Ryan eventually couldn't walk. He could only crawl or had to be carried. We had to place towels and trail of rugs from his bed to the bathroom so that he can crawl to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

After a battery of tests, including an MRI, several pediatricians diagnosed that he suffered an auto-immune response caused from streptococcus virus (strep throat.) His body's auto-immune system was attacking his joints (hips, knees, ankles) as it mistakenly thought it was fighting the strep virus. In retrospect, we realized that Ryan had a similar incident a couple years ago, but much less severe. If Ryan was to be exposed and attacked by the strep virus again, his body would likely over-react even more and cause even more pain and suffering. Poor Ryan. Poor Alice. Seeing Ryan sick was harder for Alice than dealing with my broken neck.

After much prayer and consultations with several specialists, we opted to have Ryan "regularly" take penicillin as a precautionary treatment against another strep infection. Within a short time, , and with the aid of a wheelchair, Ryan attended his elementary school graduation and even attended his culmination dance that night. He quickly came to a full recovery after the penicillin.

Several other key events of 2009:

- Paul Revere Middle School. Ryan got into Revere MS via school lottery! It was such an awesome feeling when Ryan's name was picked from the tumbling canister of names of wanna-be students. We are very happy with the school.

- Ryan joins Boys Scouts. Choosing Ryan's middle school was easy. Choosing which Boys Scout troop to join was difficult and also required much praying and consideration. We decided to join Troop 144 so that Ryan can stay with one of his best friends, since pre-school, Conner Smith. Conner was one of the 3 boys that rescued Henry from the waves on Sept 30, 2008.

Return to HomePage