Richard Ryan (pictured), former stroke patient and now Peer Visitor at Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, has donated $5 million to fund stroke treatment and research at the facility.
A $5 million planned gift from former stroke patient Richard Ryan—the largest donation of its type in the history of Spaulding Rehabilitation Network—will be used to fund stroke treatment and research.
After experiencing a stroke 5 years ago, Ryan—former chairman and CEO of Computer Corporation of America and a resident of Weston, Mass—became a patient at Spaulding, where he found himself having to learn basic life and task skills all over again.
Since then, he has been volunteering as a stroke “Peer Visitor” on the Spaulding Stroke Unit, speaking and listening to other stroke patients and their families.
His monetary gift is his way of giving back even more. The planned gift—reportedly the largest in Spaulding’s history—will support stroke treatment and research, notes a media release from Spaulding Rehab.
In appreciation, Spaulding is naming the hospital unit where Rick was treated the Richard P. Ryan Stroke Care Unit in his honor.
In addition to his planned gift, Ryan is contributing funds to establish a new research fellowship to support and build Spaulding’s pipeline of talented young investigators. It will be known as the Richard Ryan Fellow in Stroke Recovery Research.
“You don’t understand how blessed we are in this region to have an institution at the level of Spaulding until you need it. For myself and my family, facing a stroke was an enormous challenge. Having the support and expertise of the team at Spaulding made all the difference in my recovery,” Ryan explains in the release.
“To be able to give back with my time as a Peer Visitor and now through this gift is incredibly rewarding and I hope will help those that follow have an even better chance at recovery,” he adds.
David E. Storto, president of Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, shares in the release that, “So much of the innovative programs and research at Spaulding depends on the support and generosity of our donors. For a former patient and volunteer like Rick to make such an historic legacy gift so others can continue to benefit from the expertise of Spaulding clinicians and researchers is especially profound.”
“We are so grateful for Rick’s extraordinary commitment to our mission and for the tremendous impact this gift will have on future treatments and discoveries to improve the lives of stroke survivors.”
Ryan’s $5 million planned gift to fuel stroke recovery research comes on the heels of National Stroke Awareness Month and builds on two other recent record gifts to Spaulding—a $5 million gift last October from Paula Ness Speers and Mark Speers to spinal cord recovery research, and a $10 million gift last April from Scott Schoen and Nancy Adams to chronic pain recovery research and to launch Spaulding Research Institute, the release explains.
Led by Dr Ross Zafonte, an internationally recognized leader in rehabilitation research, the new research institute, when fully funded, will be home to five new Discovery Centers for Recovery in the fields of Brain Injury and Concussion, Spinal Cord Injury, Stroke, Musculoskeletal Injury, and Chronic Pain.
[Source: Spaulding Rehabilitation Network]
