{"id":278602,"date":"2022-11-01T12:41:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T17:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=278602"},"modified":"2022-10-31T15:49:03","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T20:49:03","slug":"teen-adopted-spina-bifida-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-adopted-spina-bifida-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen adopted with spina bifida finds successful path in sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>A teenager with spina bifida who was adopted as a child from China is thriving as he forges a new path in sports, showing the world he is not limited by his disability.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Wolfe grew up playing soccer and basketball, but always had a passion for football. And now, as the team manager for Eastern Lebanon County (ELCO) High School in Pennsylvania, he&#8217;s able to fulfill that passion. But it hasn&#8217;t been an easy journey. In an <a href=\"https:\/\/lancasteronline.com\/sports\/highschool\/football\/not-anything-i-can-t-do-elco-football-student-manager-ryan-wolfe-still-going-strong\/article_8259fb46-5192-11ed-9f99-0bef42ef1cb4.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview<\/a>\u00a0with Lancaster Online, Wolfe and his family shared his remarkable story, which started with Ryan&#8217;s adoption from China in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Justin and Kelly Wolfe had three biological daughters before they sought out international adoption, adopting five boys from China. One of their children, Brian, was adopted domestically, but his mother was from China as well. &#8220;She is terminal with cancer,&#8221; Justin Wolfe explained. &#8220;She wanted to find him a good home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During their adoption journey, they kept encountering Ryan. \u201cWe wondered why he wasn\u2019t adopted,&#8221; Justin said. &#8220;Why hasn\u2019t anyone given him a family? Well, because he was waiting for us. Once we realized what his special needs were, that\u2019s all stuff we\u2019d be more than capable of handling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>URGENT:\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/give.liveaction.org\/future-of-abortion\/?utm_source=lan&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=minibomb\"><b><i>For every dollar given, 34 more people can be reached with the truth about abortion. Will you join us in this life-saving work as a monthly donor today?<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p>At seven, Ryan was adopted, and the Wolfes worked closely with Children&#8217;s Hospital of Philadelphia to treat his spina bifida. He also had scoliosis and spoke no English. \u201cWe made up a lot of sign language,\u201d Justin explained. \u201cWe tried to learn some phrases. Most of it was symbols for eating or going to the bathroom. But within a couple months he picked up English so fast it was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d6GewCpuC30\" width=\"640\" height=\"355\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ryan has undergone over 20 surgeries, including placing rods into his spine to help straighten it and separate his ribs, so his lungs could grow as he grew. And though he&#8217;s also paralyzed in his right leg below the knee, he kept playing sports, as much as he could.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlaying basketball I would break the rods in my back and I\u2019d have to get surgery again. I\u2019ve broken my rods so many times,&#8221; Ryan said. \u201cThere\u2019s not anything I can\u2019t do because I will adapt to do it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Football, however, was not something he could play, because of the physical contact. So he found a different way to be part of the team. \u201cFootball is the one sport I\u2019ve always wanted to play,\u201d he said, adding that he&#8217;s still grateful even though he can&#8217;t. \u201cWith my disability, a lot of kids are in wheelchairs and not able to do anything. I\u2019m lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, he helps motivate the team, in addition to his duties as the team manager. \u201cWhen you feel like you can\u2019t do much and your body is wearing down, you look at Ryan,\u201d ELCO football player Carter Kemper said. \u201cYou know the pain he goes through. It just pushes you further.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ryan has also helped to support his dad as he underwent chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin&#8217;s lymphoma. \u201cRyan\u2019s resiliency is a testimony to all of us,\u201d Justin said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all encountered different trials in life. &#8230; Seeing all the stuff he has gone through with the adoption process, he\u2019s an orphan child. He always has a smile on his face. When they\u2019re having a bad day, Ryan will say, \u2018Yeah, at least you didn\u2019t have 21 surgeries.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And as the oldest of the five adopted boys, Ryan has served as a role model for them. \u201cHis brothers look up to him,\u201d Justin said. \u201cHe is one of those guys who would give his shirt off his back for a friend or a stranger. &#8230; He won\u2019t ever admit it, but he\u2019ll do that with his siblings. Ryan has added so much to our lives. He has done more for us than we could ever do for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-277267\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/pledge-live-action-ad-970x250-700x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"180\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A teenager with spina bifida who was adopted as a child from China is thriving as he forges a new path in sports, showing the world he is not limited by his disability. Ryan Wolfe grew up playing soccer and basketball, but always had a passion for football. And now, as the team manager for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":278829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,3473],"tags":[804,422,19382,1453],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Teen adopted with spina bifida finds successful path in sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A teenager with spina bifida, adopted as a child from China, is thriving as he shows the world he can do anything he puts his mind to.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-adopted-spina-bifida-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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