The Accident - The Story - Here it is................

On Sunday, January 17, 2009, Matt was at New Brighton beach with Caeden, Claire, and Grandma. He and Caeden went down to the water’s edge to play around with a bogie board that he had brought (Matt wants to note that he does NOT boogie board. He is strictly a body surfer). Matt would hold Caeden on the boogie board on the sand and the water would catch the board. Caeden was having a blast.

They were having so much fun. Matt asked Caeden if he wanted to see what it would look like if Matt rode a wave. So Matt started to wade into the water while Caeden waited on the shore. Matt’s plan was to go out, let a wave break, jump in the white water and ride into shore, not to actually ride a wave. As Matt realized he had waded too far out, a second set of waves (there was a good swell that day) came through. As he was standing there, a big wave was forming and Matt realized that it might break on shore and hit Caeden. With his attention focused on his son, Matt didn’t realize the wave was peaking behind him. As Matt turned to look at the wave, he was holding the board in front of him (board between him and the wave). When the wave came up (it was at least a few feet overhead) it caught Matt and turned him to the side, twisting his body and pile-driving his head into the sand.. He was basically driven into the sand, head first and had a scab on top of his head for many days after the accident.

Matt says “then the scary part starts.” After he hit the sand, he said to himself, “wow, that really hurt, bigger than any football or rugby hit I have ever taken.” He started to assess what hurt and that was when he realized he had no feeling in his body. No use of his arms, no use of his legs, all the while, he was under 4 feet of water. So he quickly flashed to what could be wrong with him (quadriplegic, paraplegic). Even worse though was his next thought which was “I am under water and I need to get air.”

So he calmed down, thinking “I am in salty water, hopefully I can get to the surface.” As he tells it, “somehow, miraculously, I got a breath of air (gulp), thinking to myself, hold the gulp, keep the air in my lungs so I can stay afloat”.

When he was under water he was thinking ”I am not going to die like this!”

So he took a second gulp, came back up to the surface, stayed afloat and started yelling for help. Someone came up and pulled him to shore. (Who is this person??? Matt would love to meet him). As Matt was pulled to shore, a group of 4+ people were waiting and, as luck would have it, among them was an ex-lifeguard.

By the time Matt was on the beach, he was beginning to feel his legs and then his arms. Then he started moving his limbs to see what his status was. The ex-lifeguard / surfer took charge. He stabilized Matt and told him to lay still. Matt told him “you run the show.”

The paramedics arrived and Matt was taken via ambulance to Dominican. From there, he was airlifted to San Jose Valley Med. Coincidentally just a few weeks prior, Matt saw a helicopter leaving Dominican and thought to himself, “I wonder what that is like, being airlifted out?”

At Valley Med, the neurosurgeon made the decision to call Dr. Jon Park (top neurosurgeon at Stanford) to see if he was available to see Matt and perhaps perform surgery. Park is the BEST in the business!!! There was discussion regarding surgery versus a halo and all concerned decided that surgery was the best alternative — Matt and Dr. Park wanted it ‘fixed’.

Matt laid on an ICU bed for 2.5 days. It was a holiday weekend and the hospital was short staffed. He wasn’t allowed any food, only water. New diet – saline and morphine…….he lost a lot of weight.

As Matt passed the time on the ICU bed, he thought of everyone in his life and felt many, many emotions. It was 60 hours and felt like a really long time. On Tuesday night (January 19, 2009), he went in for surgery (C5-T1 cervical fusion) and was told that he would remain at Stanford for 4 to 5 days. Sara (his wife) was a day or two away from giving birth. She went into labor and was admitted to Sutter late Wednesday night. Meanwhile Dr. Park saw Matt and told him that he was doing so well, they would release him early as it would be better for his recovery if he were home. Thursday was the day he was to be released. At 6am Thursday a nurse came in and told him “your wife is in labor.” Matt almost jumped out of his bed. At 8:30am Peter Truman picked him up from Stanford and the race was on. Talk about an Ironman! They were on the road by 9:00am and made it to Sutter at 10:30am. Sara gave birth at 11:30am and Matt was there to cut the umbilical cord. Okay, forget Ironman….Ultraman!!!!

Looking for the First Responders

If you happened to be one of the first folks to help Matt out of the water, the Ryan family would love to hear from you so they can convey their heartfelt thanks! Please email Mike Bennett at michaelbennett0@yahoo.com and he will put you in touch with the Ryans.

Post a Get Well Wish Here

Click the title above and submit a Get Well Soon comment for Matt

Harbor High School Track and Cross Country Fund Raiser for the Ryan Family

Harbor High School Track and Cross Country is raising funds to provide a Doula for Sara and Matt, who just had their 3rd child, Charlotte, on Thursday, January 22^nd and coordinating a number of meals to be delivered to the Ryan home. Go Pirates!

For all the information and to review the meal calendar Click Here

Visit with Matt Sunday, January 26, 2009

Visited with Matt and he looks great. He is walking around, very coherent, both arms and hands are working great. The guy is a Stud. He gave a detailed description of how he was injured, and when I have time, I will come back and post some details.