This September, 2˝-year-old
Ryan Fader and his family will join hundreds of
others at Hike for Lung Health. This will be
Ryan’s third time participating though this will
be the first time he walks without the constant
aid of an oxygen mask.
When he was 2 months old,
Ryan was diagnosed with a mutated gene, called
ABCA3, which causes respiratory distress. At the
time, doctors could only tell his parents, Eric
and Sheri, that their son would need oxygen; they
could not treat him and knew little about his
disease.
The family was directed to
Children’s Interstitial Lung Disease (chILD)
Foundation, which provides funding and support for
families whose children have similar rare lung
diseases. It was through chILD’s message boards
and emails that Ryan’s mother, Sheri, connected
with other parents of children with lung
disease.
“It
is such a lifesaver, these are parents who have
become experts in what you’re going through. They
know more than the doctors do about how to deal
with day-to-day issues of this disease… You don’t
want to be the person that everyone is staring at,
and having people who understand that has been so
wonderful and helpful.”
In
the past 3 years, the Faders have raised more than
$5,000 to support chILD Foundation and RHAMC.
Although
he was not expected to crawl, talk or walk at the
same pace as his twin sister, Sophie, they have
hit many of their development milestones together.
In the past year, Ryan’s lungs matured enough that
he was able to transition from constant use of an
oxygen machine to only nighttime use.
Last year, Sheri watched as
other children at the Hike for Lung Health played
without the aid of their oxygen masks. This year,
she is happy to watch her son do the same.
