June was supposed to be filled with happy preparations leading up to the most exciting time for our family; the arrival of Carly and Ryan’s first born, a beautiful baby girl. Instead, our June brought unimaginable heartache. With Carly nine months pregnant by his side, we learned that Ryan had a life threatening illness.



Ryan is a hard-working, genuine, and fiercely loyal new-father, son, brother, and partner. With your help, Ryan will also be a strong and odd-defying cancer fighter.



In January, Ryan began to experience severe back pain on his left side and the pain increased dramatically over the coming months. He thought that the pain was related to a Motor Vehicle Accident he was in back in August 2016. Therefore, Ryan continued to work overtime and suffered through the debilitating back pain in order to help support his family since Carly was on medical leave for her pregnancy. At the beginning of June, Ryan suddenly lost function of his left eye, which was accompanied by severe headaches and double vision. His family doctor asked him to go to emergency right away when she noticed abnormalities in Ryan’s blood work and was unable to determine the cause of Ryan’s symptoms. Ryan was immediately admitted to Royal Columbian Hospital where his case was taken over by the internal medicine team.



On June 23rd, Ryan received the devastating news that he had incurable metastatic Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of soft tissue and bone cancer that has spread to the bone marrow throughout his entire body. As well, Ryan has a large tumour pressing on his spinal cord. Ryan immediately began Radiation on the tumour in order to relieve some of the pressure on the spinal cord since there was concern he could be paralysed if he waited. Ryan will now undergo chemotherapy starting on Monday, July 17th for a duration of 7 months. Ryan’s Sarcoma is so rare that a national team of specialists are working on his case to increase his time with us since the doctors are unable to tell us how long Ryan has. We are praying he will respond to the chemotherapy and further radiation and fight his cancer into remission.



Carly and Ryan bravely and ecstatically welcomed our baby girl Adelyn Rose Schmidt on July 8th at 4:10 pm a day after Ryan’s prognosis.



Ryan is unable to work, Carly is on maternity leave and unfortunately, only a portion of Ryan's medical costs are covered by insurance. Both families are doing their part and we are hoping to raise money to assist over the next year with medical costs and other expenses.



There are progressive studies being conducted on Sarcoma’s in the United States, and Europe. If the chemotherapy and radiation are not successful, we are hopeful that Ryan will qualify to participate in the clinical trials in the more advanced Sarcoma research facilities. With the support from family, friends, and the community, Ryan will have a fighting chance at remission and to ensure Adelyn grows up with her father.



It is hard to describe how devastating this has been for the family and we know the months ahead will be challenging. Our family thanks you in advance for any help you are able to provide during these difficult times.



With love, hope and gratitude. ️<3

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