Laykin Ryan, paralyzed in a car accident earlier this year, takes off on her bike again – Pottsville Republican Herald

Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, Laykin Ryan can continue her passion for cycling.

Laykin, 9, was paralyzed in a car accident on Feb. 9 that killed her grandmother, Elizabeth Ryan. and injured her cousin Kaiden Holmes. The children were passengers in a car driven by their grandmother when a driver going the wrong way struck them on Route 901.

Rodney Rivers of Ohio pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November to 12½ to 38 years in state prison for vehicular homicide and other crimes in connection with the wrong-way crash that seriously injured Lakin.

The Pottsville girl, a fourth-grader at John S. Clarke Elementary School, suffered paralysis from the waist down but can walk short distances with the help of leg braces, according to her parents, John and Ashley Ryan.

On November 26, Laykin was surprised with the adaptive bike on Tuesday at Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital in Hummelstown.

“Laykin loved to ride her bike before the accident,” said her mother, Ashley Ryan, 35.

Laykin was expecting a doctor’s visit this Tuesday and was able to try out her new Lancaster Recumbent bike instead.

“It was a big surprise for her,” Ashley said.

Although the family had been told Laykin would get the bike, they didn’t know exactly when.

An anonymous donor visited her in the hospital earlier in the year she was recovering there and asked Laykin a few questions and then left, Ashley said. Laykin even got to choose the color of the bike: bubblegum pink.

Laykin uses her arms to pedal the bike, which was put to good use, Ashley said, adding that Laykin rode it three miles Wednesday after she got home from school.

“We’re grateful for it,” Ashley said of the bike, which she estimates costs thousands of dollars.

While Laykin was hospitalized for about three months after the accident last winter, he was occasionally allowed to ride the Lancaster County-based company’s bike.

Her recreational therapist at the hospital, Jason Forsythe, shared his love of cycling and contacted the company to rent a bike.

Before receiving treatment in Hummelstown, Laykin was a patient at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.

Laykin is still trying to recover from the tragic accident. She attends outpatient therapy once a week at Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.

“She’s resilient,” her mother said. “She’s doing very well.”

Laykin is “thriving and is a normal kid, just a little different now,” she said.

Originally published: November 30, 2024 at 12:33 pm EST