Nicholas was born on May 21, 1980. When I took him for his check-up at four weeks of age his pediatrician was checking him and afterwards told me they had to do some testing on Nick that day. The pediatrician felt swelling around his kidney/bladder area. I will never forget the phone call the following day when the pediatrician told me Nick had to be admitted to Philadelphia Children's Hospital right away. He needed surgery on his kidneys and they felt this hospital was the best with Nick being so young. There was a possibility he could lose his right kidney. After hours of surgery the Doctor came out and said Nick had blockages on both kidneys but they corrected it. After a few weeks in the hospital we got to take our beautiful baby boy home to enjoy. If only we would have known then Nick's time on this earth would be cut so short...

Growing up Nick was a typical boy and he enjoyed playing soccer, baseball, and he took karate for a few years. At age 20 Nick decided to go to Thompson Institute for computer technician and he was doing quite well in school. He was full of life and ambition and had many dreams. Nick was seemingly healthy or so we thought. On the morning of April 8, 2001 Nick passed away from a sudden cardiac arrest in his sleep. We found through autopsy he had an undiagnosed heart condition called ARVD (arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia.) We are so thankful for the 20 years we had with Nick but it was not long enough. Our lives were forever changed that day and we knew we had to do something. We would not let Nick's death be in vain and not only did we want to keep Nick's memory alive and learn as much about ARVD as we could but we wanted to help others in some way.

A few weeks later I read an article on AEDs (automated external defibrillators) and knew that was the direction I wanted to go. If one life could be saved and another family would not have to go through the tragic loss of losing a child then our efforts would be well worth it so in 2002 we established the Nicholas Ryan Over Foundation.