Ryan Maclennan - Winter 2006

Ryan MacLennan is three years old and is from Farmington, NM. He lives with his mom, dad, seven-year-old sister, Taryn, and Louie, his big fat, solid-black cat.

Ryan attends the Farmington Special Preschool, where he draws, reads books, solves puzzles and rides his tricycle.

When he’s at home, he likes to play with his cars and trains and play hide and go seek with his sister. He likes the TV show, The Wiggles, and his favorite movie, by far, is Herbie: Fully Loaded. He’s also a huge Denver Bronco’s fan, just like his dad. In fact his second word was “Bronco.”

Ryan loves to play outside and especially loves to ride horses, and he participates in a local program called Reindance. Last year, he was part of the Special Needs Rodeo at the county fair, and he practiced two times a week for three months to prepare for the event. At the rodeo, he rode his horse through an obstacle course and won a trophy and a ribbon! Later this spring he’ll get ready to win more awards in this year’s rodeo. Good luck, Ryan!

Ryan has Goldenhar syndrome; he can’t eat yet, and speaking is very difficult. Some sounds are possible, and he can communicate some words (like “Bronco!”). For now, he uses sign language.

He has gone through 13 surgical procedures and seven surgeries so far. Last year, he had a distraction device implanted, which will prepare his jaw for reconstruction by way of a rib graft. Luckily, he didn’t have any surgeries or major recoveries late last year, so this past Christmas was the first one he was able to fully enjoy.

Ryan’s family found out about CCA on the Internet and have met a lot of wonderful families at the Nashville and Tempe retreats. He and his family have met seven other children with Goldenhar and their families, which helps them to know that there are others out there with similar circumstances. They look forward to meeting everyone again at this year’s retreat in Hershey, PA.

If you would like to share your story with CCA, please send an email to Annie Reeves at areeves@ccakids.com. If your story is chosen, with your permission, we will edit and publish it in the CCA newsletter, on the Web site or use it for public awareness programs. Not all stories will be selected.

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