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 Ryan Figlestahler

In Memory of Ryan Figlestahler

Ryan was the youngest of our three children. He was always full of life, adventurous, always looking for fun. He also was so healthy growing up, that we almost forgot to take him to the Doctor for his regular checkups.

When he came home from Indianapolis in January of 2006, and complained of being numb on his one side and having “out of body” experiences, we were really worried. Ryan went to his local physician, who had been caring of Ryan for years. His doctor immediately ordered a CT-SCAN. The CT-SCAN showed a huge mass in Ryan’s right front brain area. He was admitted to the hospital immediately; an MRI to confirm that he indeed had a brain tumor and his local neurologist met with us on Saturday and it had to come out NOW—we were just frozen with fear. 

Ryan had surgery on February 10, 2006 and we were told the surgery was a complete success. When we received the pathology report, the diagnosis was a Grade 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma. The local oncologist recommended we go to Duke and she personally called Dr. Henry Friedman. Dr. Friedman called within 24 hours and again called us within 24 hours of receiving Ryan’s information. He was just amazing.

April of 2013 Ryan had his yearly MRI which was clean and stable. Since his appointment was the same weekend as Angels Among Us, Ryan attended...as he did every year. Ryan was headed home to Lilburn, GA when he suffered a intracranial hemorrhage and passed away on April 23, 2013. Ryan had bravely fought a malignant brain tumor for 7 years.

Ryan was a football coach at Mill Creek, and a Para-Pro and basketball coach at Parkview. He was a fun-loving young man and lived life to the fullest. Ryan will be dearly missed by all who knew him.

 

 

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