A paralyzing car accident in her teens left Ryan with a new life to build. Rarely looking back, she became a swim coach and a high school teacher, she traveled to India for experimental stem cell treatment, she fought hard to make the Paralympic swim team, she even became a mom. With so many stories to tell and lessons to learn, Ryan did the only thing she could: she wrote a book.
Her memoir, when i grow up i want TO BE A CHAIR, launched in February 2022, along with pieces seen in the Huffington Post, Insider, and Newsweek. Although her writing career is still in its infancy, it is a ferocious little newborn.
A Colorado native, Ryan has always found solace in the mountain air and has always been up for an outdoor challenge—as far as her wheelchair wheels could take her, or beyond. She has been a teacher and a swim coach but enjoys being Mom the most. She and her husband, Andrew, live in Denver with their two mudslinging, car-vrooming young boys.
