Ryan has a condition called pectus excavatum, it is commonly called sunken chest. As you can see from the attached photos his sternum has never developed which has caused issues with lung capacity and his heart has been displaced further to the left. Dr Shyam Kolvekar has described Ryan as being one the most severe cases that he has come across and would recommend surgical intervention. To give indication of the severity a moderate haller index score is 2, a severe score is 3.2 and Ryan is estimated to be 4.5

Ryan has always been physically active playing both football and rugby at school and for local clubs, however he has had to give up rugby and looking more and more likely he would have to give up football for health reasons. As Ryan has grown the dip in his chest has continued to get worse. It is now causing significant amounts of pain, frequent bouts of breathlessness and taking a huge toll on his mental health. Ryan's condition is also affecting his school life, he refused to take his preferred G.S.C.E (Physical Education) due to it, frequently having to take time off due to pain levels and frequent infections and also struggling with body image issues with other children often commenting on his chest.

Ryan requires a surgery known as the NUSS procedure, this involves placing a curved metal bar into the chest to re shape the chest and to prevent further complications and being removed after two years.

This surgery was removed off the NHS funding list in feb 2019 because they classed the procedure as cosmetic. NHS England is the only western health care provider to discontinue the surgery and is still available in both Scotland and Wales. The leading surgeons are currently campaigning to have the surgery reinstated in the future but this will be too late not to cause significant damage to Ryan in the long term.

Ryan dreams of following in his fathers footsteps of being a soldier and serving his country but without the surgery Ryan would never pass the medical.

Due to Ryan's age he will have the surgery at the Portland hospital, it is estimated that the costs for the procedure and after care will be 15k

Surgery will dramatically improve the quality of life for Ryan