Ryan lived an amazing life despite having a disease as debilitating as Sickle Cell. As a child, he was the ‘poster boy’ for the Rare Donor Program for Bloodworks, and a guest speaker to UW medical students. Ryan loved to spend time with his parents and 4 siblings, of which Ryan was the youngest. He loved taking care of his various pets; a cat, bird and goldfish. When his body allowed, Ryan loved playing baseball, snowboarding, fishing & crabbing. He also enjoyed video games, building legos and K’nex, which was a sign of what his adult passions and career would turn out to be. As an adult, he learned to work on aircraft as a flight line mechanic, and as a proud employee of Boeing. He loved to work on planes, and travelled abroad multiple times for work, to use his knowledge and expertise on jobs he was assigned to. His hobbies also turned to cars, whether watching different types of racing (motorcycles, dirt bikes, cars) or taking apart and rebuilding cars. He loved his family and friends so much, cheering them up with his tight hugs and laughter, as he was quite the jokester. He never complained about all that he went through, and got the most out of life as we always hoped he would.

-  Annelise Buck