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Moment to Cherish
Visit to Lambeau by terminally ill father real special to Ryan
By LORI NICKEL
Posted: Nov. 2, 2006
Green Bay - Living isn't sitting in front of the TV all night after work, watching sports. It's going to his sons' games to support them.
Living is using his expertise as a psychologist to help troubled kids at Ranch Ehrlo, a non-profit treatment center.
Living is simple moments like laughter at the dinner table.
So when the doctors told Bob Ryan he would need half his body amputated, more tumors removed from his lungs and who knows what else just to stay alive, Ryan could not agree.
"He said he wanted to live, not survive," said his son, Jon Ryan. "He said, 'That's no way for a man to live.' "
So 54-year-old Bob Ryan, in acute pain, with his severely swollen leg his constant reminder that he is dying from cancer, decided to get on with his living.
Last weekend he left Regina, Saskatchewan, and flew to Wisconsin to see his 24-year-old son Jon punt for his beloved NFL team, the Green Bay Packers.
"Before the game he said his pain was zero, which was remarkable," said Jon.
If it's interesting that the Packers have a punter from Canada, it's fascinating that the Ryan family members are Packers fans. Football is pretty big in Canada. It's not as big as hockey, but it doesn't appear that Jon Ryan's destiny was in that game anyway.
"My dad is the ultimate sports dad," said Jon Ryan. "I played five or six sports and he would be at every one of my games. He was never that dad up in the stands yelling. I remember I played hockey, and there'd be games I'd play terrible, at goalie. I'd let in like 10 goals, and some dads are yelling at their sons and my dad would just say, 'Good job, you'll get 'em next time.' "
Bob's NFL team has been Green Bay for more than 40 years, which may or may not have influenced Jon to turn down more money with the New York Giants to try out here.
But Bob Ryan first knew something wasn't right last winter, when it was thought he pulled a groin muscle. Cancer wasn't a concern because there's no family history. Yet in August, while Jon was trying to win the Packers punting job in training camp, Bob was diagnosed with Chondrosarcoma, a very rare cancer of bone cartilage.
Bob Ryan's tumors originated in his leg and hip and the cancer weakened his bones to the point that when he slipped, he broke his femur. Then the cancer spread.
"The tumor burst out of the bone and started to grow like crazy. He felt like he could see it get bigger almost daily," said Jon's mother, Barb Ryan.
Because this cancer doesn't respond to chemotherapy or radiation, Bob expected to treat it with a hind quarter amputation, almost up to his waist. But the tumors had spread to Bob's lungs and the other hip as well.
"Surgery was out of the question," Barb added. "So they just diagnosed him as terminal and sent him back home, and we're doing our best to look after him."
The day before the Packers' game against Arizona, Ryan's agent, Gil Scott, CFL Saskatchewan Roughrider president Jim Hopson and Regina businessman Paul Hill collaborated to get a private jet to send the Ryan family to Lambeau.
Packers equipment manager Red Batty, a Montreal native, arranged a private box for the family at a discount to Ryan.
Batty had vans pick up the Ryan family at the airport tarmac and sent them first to the southeast tunnel, which was a surprise to Jon.
After warm-ups, Jon threw his arms around his father when he saw him on the field.
"I lost it," said Jon. "It was a moment that I'll never, ever forget. That was probably as special of a moment I'll ever have in my life."
Batty introduced Bob to several other players who filed by with high-fives and well wishes. Brett Favre leaned in to Bob a little longer.
"Try to make it so Jon doesn't have to punt too much today," Bob Ryan told Favre.
"I'll do my best," the quarterback said.
Ryan punted twice for a 53-yard average in the Packers' 31-14 victory. After the game, Packers coach Mike McCarthy greeted Bob. Then Barb, Jon's sisters, Erica Honaway and Jill Scheer, and more family spent additional time with Jon. The Ryans only wished that youngest brother Steve could have been there, but he is in the middle of college football in Canada.
"A perfect ending to a perfect day," said Barb. "It was pretty emotional. I think Jon really thought he might have seen his dad for the last time when he came home for the bye week. You know, he's so close to his dad, he's so much like his dad. So this opportunity came up and it was amazing. We were over the moon."
When Ryan punts in his eighth career NFL game Sunday at Buffalo, his family will be back at home in Regina with the projection screen TV they bought to watch the Packers games.
"It's a helpless feeling being so far away," Ryan said. "But at the same time, playing football may help my family. That's an escape for them, to spend three hours a week just not thinking about cancer."
From the Nov. 3, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Moment to Cherish
Visit to Lambeau by terminally ill father real special to Ryan
By LORI NICKEL
Posted: Nov. 2, 2006
Green Bay - Living isn't sitting in front of the TV all night after work, watching sports. It's going to his sons' games to support them.
Living is using his expertise as a psychologist to help troubled kids at Ranch Ehrlo, a non-profit treatment center.
Living is simple moments like laughter at the dinner table.
So when the doctors told Bob Ryan he would need half his body amputated, more tumors removed from his lungs and who knows what else just to stay alive, Ryan could not agree.
"He said he wanted to live, not survive," said his son, Jon Ryan. "He said, 'That's no way for a man to live.' "
So 54-year-old Bob Ryan, in acute pain, with his severely swollen leg his constant reminder that he is dying from cancer, decided to get on with his living.
Last weekend he left Regina, Saskatchewan, and flew to Wisconsin to see his 24-year-old son Jon punt for his beloved NFL team, the Green Bay Packers.
"Before the game he said his pain was zero, which was remarkable," said Jon.
If it's interesting that the Packers have a punter from Canada, it's fascinating that the Ryan family members are Packers fans. Football is pretty big in Canada. It's not as big as hockey, but it doesn't appear that Jon Ryan's destiny was in that game anyway.
"My dad is the ultimate sports dad," said Jon Ryan. "I played five or six sports and he would be at every one of my games. He was never that dad up in the stands yelling. I remember I played hockey, and there'd be games I'd play terrible, at goalie. I'd let in like 10 goals, and some dads are yelling at their sons and my dad would just say, 'Good job, you'll get 'em next time.' "
Bob's NFL team has been Green Bay for more than 40 years, which may or may not have influenced Jon to turn down more money with the New York Giants to try out here.
But Bob Ryan first knew something wasn't right last winter, when it was thought he pulled a groin muscle. Cancer wasn't a concern because there's no family history. Yet in August, while Jon was trying to win the Packers punting job in training camp, Bob was diagnosed with Chondrosarcoma, a very rare cancer of bone cartilage.
Bob Ryan's tumors originated in his leg and hip and the cancer weakened his bones to the point that when he slipped, he broke his femur. Then the cancer spread.
"The tumor burst out of the bone and started to grow like crazy. He felt like he could see it get bigger almost daily," said Jon's mother, Barb Ryan.
Because this cancer doesn't respond to chemotherapy or radiation, Bob expected to treat it with a hind quarter amputation, almost up to his waist. But the tumors had spread to Bob's lungs and the other hip as well.
"Surgery was out of the question," Barb added. "So they just diagnosed him as terminal and sent him back home, and we're doing our best to look after him."
The day before the Packers' game against Arizona, Ryan's agent, Gil Scott, CFL Saskatchewan Roughrider president Jim Hopson and Regina businessman Paul Hill collaborated to get a private jet to send the Ryan family to Lambeau.
Packers equipment manager Red Batty, a Montreal native, arranged a private box for the family at a discount to Ryan.
Batty had vans pick up the Ryan family at the airport tarmac and sent them first to the southeast tunnel, which was a surprise to Jon.
After warm-ups, Jon threw his arms around his father when he saw him on the field.
"I lost it," said Jon. "It was a moment that I'll never, ever forget. That was probably as special of a moment I'll ever have in my life."
Batty introduced Bob to several other players who filed by with high-fives and well wishes. Brett Favre leaned in to Bob a little longer.
"Try to make it so Jon doesn't have to punt too much today," Bob Ryan told Favre.
"I'll do my best," the quarterback said.
Ryan punted twice for a 53-yard average in the Packers' 31-14 victory. After the game, Packers coach Mike McCarthy greeted Bob. Then Barb, Jon's sisters, Erica Honaway and Jill Scheer, and more family spent additional time with Jon. The Ryans only wished that youngest brother Steve could have been there, but he is in the middle of college football in Canada.
"A perfect ending to a perfect day," said Barb. "It was pretty emotional. I think Jon really thought he might have seen his dad for the last time when he came home for the bye week. You know, he's so close to his dad, he's so much like his dad. So this opportunity came up and it was amazing. We were over the moon."
When Ryan punts in his eighth career NFL game Sunday at Buffalo, his family will be back at home in Regina with the projection screen TV they bought to watch the Packers games.
"It's a helpless feeling being so far away," Ryan said. "But at the same time, playing football may help my family. That's an escape for them, to spend three hours a week just not thinking about cancer."
From the Nov. 3, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
