Being in the hospital is hard at any age. For young children, many organizations go out of their way to ensure they feel supported and comfortable. But for teenagers and young adults, that support doesn’t always meet their unique needs.
Young adults and teenagers are in a unique phase of life. They crave independence and space to discover themselves, while at the same time longing for community and a sense of belonging. Having a serious illness or being in the hospital can complicate an already challenging season of life and that tension becomes even harder to navigate. They rely heavily on parents and care teams, yet have no way to step away, be with peers, or find others who truly understand what they’re going through. For so many young people battling serious illness, that isolation can feel just as heavy as the diagnosis itself.
That was especially true for Ryan.
Ryan was a young man who was diagnosed with Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer in April of 2023, just ten days before his college graduation. What started as a lump on his hand that his mom Rachel encouraged him to have looked at, turned into a life altering diagnosis during a time that should have been filled with excitement for Ryan.
“Ryan was bigger than life. He was an amazing, energetic, fun boy who lit the room up,” his mom, Rachel recalls. “He was an incredible human.” This description followed him everywhere, even into the hardest moments of his life.
Ryan and his family were heartbroken by his diagnosis, but he refused to let it stop him. He went back to school, walked across the stage with his class, and then began treatment.
Because Ryan had a pediatric cancer he received his care at HCA HealthONE Rocky Mountain Children’s. It was a strange and difficult reality. Being in a children’s Hospital as a young adult, Ryan longed to have a space in the hospital that didn’t feel like the hospital where he could build community with others going through similar experiences.
“His vision was just getting out of the four walls of the room,” Rachel recalls. “After a while the smells get to you, the thought of where you’re at just gets to be too much.”
What Ryan did find at RMC was the Child Life Team. He grew close with them quickly. They were people he could talk to about difficult experiences, his hopes and dreams, and eventually the legacy he wanted to leave behind. He spent hours with Posey and Lemon, the facility dogs, and opened up about what he wished was different. He told them how much he wanted a place he could go to meet other teenagers and young adults who were going through the same things, or simply somewhere he could feel like a person instead of a patient.
“When we first started talking to him about this idea of a teen space, he jumped right in,” said Kara one of the child life specialists. “He was so excited about it, because he recognized that he didn’t have a space in the hospital that didn’t feel like the hospital.”
A few months into treatment, on his birthday, Ryan learned that the treatment wasn’t working. There was little more that could be done. He returned to his hospital room to process the news, and Hannah from the child life team quietly followed. She asked him to take a walk with her.
She led him to an empty room the hospital was planning to renovate. Standing in that bare space, she asked him: If we could turn this into something for teenagers, what would you do with it?
Ryan lit up. He started imagining out loud “Maybe a little putt-putt over here,” he said, “or a screen for movie nights.” In that moment, even in the middle of the hardest news of his life, Ryan was dreaming of something for someone else.
The Child Life Team knew then that they had to make it real.
Sadly, Ryan passed away in April of 2024, nearly a year after his diagnosis. He was 23 years old. But his dream lives on. Rachel has no doubt he would have been the first one through the door. “He would be in this room,” she said, “with these kids.”
The Child Life Team brought the Teen Lounge to Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation, asking for help with fundraising for a space for teenagers and young adults. The Foundation got to work finding a way to make it happen.
Around the same time, Shea’s Village Foundation was looking for more ways to make a meaningful difference for kids in this age group. They knew firsthand how little support teenagers often receive — and then they heard Ryan’s story. It resonated deeply. Shea’s Village Foundation knew immediately that they wanted to be part of bringing his dream to life, and they generously funded the project.
The new Teen Lounge at Rocky Mountain Children’s will be everything Ryan hoped for. As Kara puts it, “The Teen Lounge is a space where when they walk in the door of that room, they walk out of the hospital. Where they can be in a space that is specifically designed for teens and young adults.” They can play video games, read, do homework, connect with peers, or simply sit quietly and process the difficult days.
Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation is proud to partner with Rocky Mountain Children’s and Shea’s Village Foundation to make the Teen Lounge a reality.
