A Picture Gallery of Ryan’s Life

Ryan was born while Bob and Michelle were in the military and stationed in Frederick, Maryland. Ryan weighed in at 9 pounds and 14 ounces. He was the sweetest child. He walked at 9 months and was full of energy and his big sister was his world. When Ryan was three we moved to Pflugerville Texas. He began kindergarten at Doublecreek Farms Day School. He attended Pflugerville Elementry, Pflugervill Middle and Pflugerville High School. He was a good student considering he didn’t study much. It always seemed Ryan could sweet talk or smile his way out of a jam. Everyone loved him. As I was told during the funeral that he was the “Life of the Party”. When Ryan was a junior at PHS he met Lisa Lucas. This became a friendship that would span a decade and continues to this day. Ryan and Lisa married and bought a wonderful house on the Blackhawk golf course and things really seemed to go well until Ryan’s Bipolar disease seemed to grab him and would not let go. The marriage ended and Ryan was not good on his own.he mood swings and depression were so very painful for him and he used drinking and to ease the pain. What seemed like a personal decision to drink excessively was really the way Ryan self medicated to handle the depression. Before long Ryan had given in to addiction and knew he needed help. Ryan sought help and grew spiritually from this experience. But the Bipolar disease took hold of him so hard that he was in a downward spiral. Although he was clean and sober his mood swings seemed to increase. He managed to work and keep up a really good “face”.

What seemed like bursts of energy were actually manic swings, the higher the swing the lower and deeper the depression. Ryan sought help and at times seemed to have a handle on things but then the manic swing would throw everything off base. The Drs. tried so many medications that his father and I felt they had him over-medicated. At the time he died he was on seven different medicines, one of which was for adult ADD. The day Ryan was buried a news cast on CNN indicated that this particular medication that Ryan was taking had a side effect of suicide. I would hope anyone who is taking this medication or is prescribed these types of medications would take the time to discuss and review these side effects with your Dr. and your family.

Ryan was a good man who loved his family and friends and who really didn’t want to hurt any of us. He just could not live with the pain that Bipolar Disease causes. I would hope any of you who know someone with this problem would reach out to them because it is as painful as any physical disease. Please call us for information and use the resources on this website to gain knowledge about this disease.

If you were lucky enough to know him please drop us a line and let us know you were here. It gives us great joy to hear the stories and see the pictures of our son Ryan. May peace be with you and your family and be sure to say a prayer, tell a funny joke and remember Ryan.