Ryan Caine, a 24-year-old resident of San Diego, had a truly incredible Christmas celebration. Not just because he was celebrating it in February, but because he was alive to celebrate it at all. On December 12, Caine ended up in an emergency room with flu-like symptoms. And unfortunately for him, things only got worse.
He was diagnosed with pneumonia, but even worse, it evolved into cardiac arrest when his pneumonia turned septic. At this point, in a desperate attempt to save Caine’s life, he was put into a drug-induced coma. An article from NBC San Diego described his chances of survival as “meager” after being put on life support.
His family, particularly his mother Janet Caine, never gave up on their son, but not without an immense toll. From the NBC San Diego article:
“You don’t want to eat; you don’t want to do anything,” she explained. “You just want to function because you feel so helpless and you feel like you can’t do anything for your baby.”
Janet Caine also set up an online prayer session, where she managed to get 15,000 people from all over the world to join in prayer for her son.
The visits, the prayers, the hope of family, went on for six weeks. Until January 24th.
Ryan Caine awoke from his coma, a miracle on every level, especially on a medical level. And in classic fashion, Ryan had only one thing to say as soon as he woke up:
“Did I miss Christmas?”
According to the NBC San Diego article, his mother replied:
“We said, ‘No, Christmas can happen anytime, and it is waiting for you at home,'”
The Caine family takes Christmas pretty seriously, and to quote the report again:
Each year, they join their neighbors on Ellingham Drive by decking out their home in elaborate holiday decorations inspired by the characters from “Suzie’s Zoo.”
It’s worth mentioning at this point that Ryan Caine is on the autism spectrum, and Christmas is his favorite time of year. His family “described by his family as having the exuberance of a 10-year-old,” and his neighbors fed that joy in a truly incredible way.
An incredible and heartwarming homecoming. Ryan Caine was in an induced coma for 6 1/2 weeks. Upon awakening one of his first questions was, “Did I miss Christmas?” His family and friends are making sure it happen today!. #nbc7 pic.twitter.com/fRFzI7AdOZ
— Artie Ojeda (@ArtieNBCSD) February 6, 2019
The Caines have profusely thanked the doctors for their work and those who prayed for their son’s recovery. And as a final coda to this story, I think Ryan put it best in this KGTV report:
Although he had hoped for a trip to Disneyland for Christmas, Caine said he has another item on future wish lists.
“I also hope I’m never going to go into the hospital again,” he told reporters.
I hope so too, Ryan.
h/t Huffington Post
