UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. — Kimberly Stehlik took her son to Shriners Children's Philadelphia – a hospital focused on pediatric specialty care – for the first time when he was just 2 months old.
Born with a brachial plexus injury that tore his spinal cord, Ryan Stehlik had damage to his C5 and C6 vertebrae, affecting the nerves going into his shoulder and keeping him from having feeling in one of his arms.
“Everybody that we had gone to was very much of the thought process the tear was so extreme and the injury was so horrific that he was not ever going to have any mobility of it,” Kimberly Stehlik said.
Now, after years of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and multiple reconstructive procedures, 16-year-old Ryan has almost complete mobility of the arm that doctors once said he might never be able to use.
“Everybody that we had gone to was very much of the thought process the tear was so extreme and the injury was so horrific that he was not ever going to have any mobility of it.”Kimberly Stehlik, mother of 16-year-old Ryan
His story of recovery is one of 21 others that will be celebrated at the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open, a charitable golf tournament on the PGA Tour that starts today in Las Vegas and runs through Sunday. The tournament benefits Shriners Children's.
Ryan Stehlik will be representing Shriners Children's Philadelphia, serving as a standard bearer — a volunteer who carries a golfer's scorecard and walks the course with them.
The other selected patient ambassadors, all of whom have received treatment at Shriners, will each represent one of the Shriners' locations at the event.
Shriners is paying for each child and one parent to travel to and stay in Las Vegas.
'Common bond'
Stephanie Brywa, director of marketing and communications at Shriners Children's Philadelphia, said after a get-to-know-each-other dinner the night before, all of the children are paired with a golfer Friday and taught how to act as a standard bearer.
The ambassadors will then follow their golfer and carry a sign as the golfers play throughout the weekend.
For ambassadors whose players do not move forward, there is a patient patio overlooking the 18th hole where they can relax and continue to watch the action.
The tournament will be televised on NBC and golfchannel.com; ambassadors will be wearing Shriners shirts and khaki shorts or pants.
Brywa attended the event in 2018 and 2019 and likened the ambassadors' experience to summer camp.
“You get to meet so many different kids from all around the country and some kids that might be just like you or different and your common bond is Shriners,” Brywa said.
However, she said the position of an ambassador isn’t all fun and games. “They’re fun days. Long days, but fun days,” she said.
From patient to athlete
Standing in the sun for long periods of time, carrying a 5-pound sign, and walking about five miles per round can be tiring and requires a level of physical exertion.
This is something Brywa’s team had to be aware of when selecting a patient to represent the hospital.
She said she met Ryan when looking for patients to be involved in a video being filmed for Shriners. He had been recommended to her by his longtime care provider, Dr. Scott H. Kozin.
“It was brought to our attention that we needed to nominate our 2024 kiddo. We were like ‘No brainer, it’s Ryan,’” she said.
This is not the first time the world of athletics and Shriners has combined for Ryan:
When he was in second grade, he watched his older cousin’s lacrosse game with his family at DeSales University, near his home.
Immediately, he was hooked. He wanted to be on the field but when he asked his mom if he could join a lacrosse team, she said no.
“It was a lot of hard work getting him to that point where we could move his arm as much as he could. And then putting him on a field with that game was a big change,” Kimberly said.
However, she said Ryan has never let anything stop him. Even her.
Now, as a junior at Southern Lehigh High School, Ryan Stehlik is a starter on the varsity lacrosse team.
What they do and how they help people, it’s something that I hope to do in the future.”Ryan Stehlik, junior at Southern Lehigh High School
With the help of Shriners, his passion for lacrosse even became integrated into his treatment.
“(Lacrosse) became kind of a fun way to do physical therapy where we would look at different sports and different activities and say ‘It’s a challenge, but how do we figure it out?’ And that kind of kept it so that it was exciting for him and not just you’re going into a physical therapy room and doing repetitive exercises,” Kimberly said.
The future
Now as he looks to apply to colleges, Ryan Stehlik hopes to play lacrosse at a Division I university. However, he said his academics come first, and he hopes to study physical therapy or kinesiology.
Ryan said growing up in a medical environment inspired him to pursue an education in that area.
“I think I have a different experience than some people going into (kinesiology) or physical therapy too… I began to appreciate it more. What they do and how they help people, it’s something that I hope to do in the future,” he said.
Kimberly Stehlik, who will be accompanying her son to Las Vegas, said this is just another way in which she is impressed by her son’s resilience.
“I am so proud of him, I am so grateful for Shriners, I’m so grateful for the help," she said. "I see new moms in the parking lot and I know they’re going that day to see Dr. Kosin… and I want to run up to them and say ‘It’s going to be OK.’”
