Full speed ahead and ready for impact. That is the only way that Liam Ryan knows how to compete on the gridiron.
The pain this time around was different. He has played through minor scrapes and bruises before, but as he was examined on the sidelines after a major collision, he knew that this was serious.
The 17-year old Geneva High School junior was seen at Interlakes Orthopaedic Surgery immediately after an emergency room visit, was in an unfamiliar position. Where Liam, a big brother to sisters Kiersten, a sophomore, and Marissa, a sixth grader, is used to being “superman,” this time around the three sport athlete and honor student needed help.
His dislocated and torn shoulder labrum would require extensive repair and rehabilitation.
“The surgeon took excellent care of him, as did the entire staff,” at both emergency department at Geneva General Hospital (GGH), and at the Finger Lakes Surgery Center, said Liam’s mother Tiffany. For 28 years she has been a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at GGH. Watching her son carried off the football field last September at Loman Stadium however, was difficult to watch.
From the time Liam was injured, examined and given an MRI, to the day he was in the operating room, was just over two weeks.
“My focus was to get back as fast as I could and my surgeon really did get me moving,” said Liam as he stretched his legs in preparation for the day’s hurdle practice on the outdoor tracks. “Right now I feel stronger than I was before.”
The level of professionalism and understanding that the surgeon gave Liam made an impression on his mother. “His attention to detail, his willingness to work with Liam, and his follow up care was impressive,” noted Tiffany. “He called the night of the surgery and the next day – which I appreciated as a nurse.”
After the Labral repair surgery it was would be just two months until Liam was on the basketball court, not the estimated half a year, all the while going through outpatient physical therapy. Now, as he competes with his sister Kiersten on the track and field team, the soon-to-be high school senior is confident and poised for his return to Friday night lights come autumn.
He will continue to follow in his father Ted’s gridiron footsteps, and all the while completing his electrical training at Wayne Finger Lakes BOCES Technical and Career Center, the Section Five champion in the 400 meter hurdles and the 4-by-100 relay is moving in the right direction. “We were very grateful to be given high quality local care.”