Today's Daily Dispatch front page.
Southern Vance senior makes it with a little help from his friends
By DAVID IRVINE
dirvine@hendersondispatch.com
May 19,2009
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Southern Vance student Rylan Knapp, center, will graduate with his classmates in June after missing much of the school year following surgery to remove the fluid on his brain. His teachers and soccer coaches James Wagner, left, and Mike Rotolo helped Knapp keep up-to-date with his school work by working with him at home.
When Jeffrey Rylan Knapp started having a severe headache during soccer practice last fall, he had no idea that it would require surgery.
He couldn't know what a long recuperation would be required.
And he couldn't know that, in spite of missing most of the school year, he would still graduate with his class.
Rylan is a senior at Southern Vance High School. He says the headache lasted about a week, leading to a CAT scan followed by an MRI, which showed a buildup of fluid on his brain. "It was pretty scary," he says. Surgery was required to relieve the pressure. The operation was performed by Dr. Ali Zomorodi, a neurosurgeon with Duke University Medical Center.
Rylan remained in critical condition in the intensive care unit for three days. This was followed by almost two weeks additional recuperation in the hospital.
But the story doesn't end there. Rylan had to make multiple trips back to the hospital as he recuperated at home. He had so much trouble keeping food down that his weight dropped from its normal level of 135 pounds to about 120 pounds. As a result, he wasn't able to return to school until late January.
During his extended absence, his teachers worked overtime to help him keep up. Rylan's mother, Melinda Orr, said that Principal Sherri Bowers called regularly to see if they needed anything. Coach Mike Rotolo and coach/math teacher James Wagner arranged for his assignments to be sent to him, and Wagner provided home schooling for him.
Orr said, "The teachers and staff were just wonderful." She told about visits the teachers made to the home to help Rylan keep up with his lessons.
When her comments about what they did for Rylan were mentioned to Wagner, he said, "Rylan did it himself. He's a great kid."
Wagner added that Principal Bowers was behind them 100 percent. "All you had to say was, "Rylan needs ...' and it was done."
In some respects, Rylan didn't miss the soccer season, even though he wasn't able to play. Rotolo, the soccer coach, said that Rylan was an inspiration to the team. "Rylan was an emotional part of the team throughout the soccer season," he said. "There were so many lessons we were able to teach through him. We dedicated the season to him." Wagner added, "That came from the bottom up. It came from the players."
They had senior day in the hospital, presenting Rylan his senior medal there.
During the fall semester, Rylan was able to meet the requirements of his Math, English and Foods & Nutrition courses. He was even able to keep up in his weight training class by carrying out written assignments. He did have to drop Physics.
For the spring session, he carried Honors English and Art. According to his mother, he was "way ahead," so only these credits were needed for him to complete graduation requirements.
Rylan was able to maintain a grade point average around 3.3 and will be graduating in June, something that was thrown into doubt last fall.
He has applied to N.C. State University, UNC at Chapel Hill, East Carolina University and UNC at Wilmington. Rotolo and Wagner had a debate about what his order of preference should be; Rylan diplomatically remained noncommittal.
dirvine@hendersondispatch.com
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