Warmest wishes
Teen with cerebral palsy gets hot tub from Wishing Star Foundation

Ryan Knapp loves the sound of the river, the water cascading then trickling over the rocks.
He loves summertime, being outside and being warm.
Though Ryan can’t speak due to severe cerebral palsy, his mother, Laurie Knapp, knew exactly what to ask of the Wishing Star Foundation for her 15-year-old son – a hot tub. The foundation grants wishes to children with terminal or life-threatening illnesses. Ryan’s school nurse referred him to the foundation last summer. A flood of requests last July and the cost of Ryan’s wish delayed the hot tub installation until last week.
Knapp wraps her arms around her son and holds him close. She carries him over to the six-person Kodiak Mountain Spring hot tub, complete with a volcano jet and waterfall.
She leans in for a kiss. He’s not too happy about it. Some of the men who donated labor and materials are huddled around. A few women are, too.
“Oh, I know. Typical teenage boy,” she says smiling, noting his embarrassment.
The next day, Knapp holds Ryan in the steaming water. He seems a little scared at first as the water soaks his dark blue swim trunks and T-shirt. Knapp picks his arms up and brings them down slowly into the water. He begins to crack a smile.
The hot tub is situated on a brand-new patio which Kenny Olvera, owner of All-American Construction in Coeur d’Alene, replaced at no cost.
“At the time, it just seemed like the right thing to do,” Olvera said. “There’s not too many people out there who still try to give back to the community… I figured I might as well give back because I’m gonna get back. I’d do what other people weren’t doing out there.”
Knapp and her husband, Rich, planned to pay for the concrete.
“He offered to do that at no cost and I thought, ‘Is this guy for real?’ You know, people don’t do that very often,” Knapp said.
Olvera contacted other companies to donate time and materials including Sandstone Materials, TNS Electric, Lake City Rental, Coeur d’Alene Building Supply and CPM.
“He really took charge,” said Melissa Rideout, wish coordinator.
“I just put people on the spot and said, ‘Here’s the deal’ and didn’t give them time to argue the point. If one person said no, I went straight to the next one,” Olvera said.
Olvera contacted Rob Schulhoss, owner of Crystal Clear Pool and Spa in Coeur d’Alene, who then sold the hot tub at a discounted price.
The average cost per foundation wish is a little moreo than $3,000. Ryan’s wish was one of the most expensive the foundation has granted, said Rideout.
Rideout said of the three wishes requested, they choose the most empowering to the child.
“They go through lots of hardships in their life depending on their diagnosis,” she said. “It’s really to empower the child as well as their family.”
The damage to Ryan’s brain was caused by the cytomegalovirus which Knapp passed to him during her pregnancy. Calcifications on both sides of his brain interfered with his motor skills, speech and growth development.
“It pretty much wiped everything out,” Knapp said. “We didn’t know this when he was born because I didn’t feel any sickness or anything. It took a long time to figure out what it was.”
At 6 months old, during a pH test for Ryan’s acid reflux, a CT scan was performed and revealed the brain damage.
“At least we had an answer to why,” Knapp said. Doctors told Laurie and Rich that Ryan would not be able to speak or walk.
“The first five years he was pretty sick and very unhappy,” Knapp said. “It took going to public school for him to really be motivated to move his head which is the only thing he really moves the most.”
Knapp said Ryan loves attending Lakeland Junior High School in Rathdrum, especially his classmates and the bus ride.
“He hated being in a car when he was little but he got on the bus, I don’t know, it took a bus to make him feel better,” Knapp said.
Ryan’s younger brother, Evan – “8 going on 17” – worries about his brother, Knapp said.
“But if Evan gets in trouble, Ryan just smiles,” she said.
“The disappointing part is he can’t tell us if he likes it or what he’s thinking,” Knapp said. “It’s really a guessing game. You get to know the expressions on his face.”
His caretaker, who has been with him for eight years, kisses his cheek and coos at him. Ryan’s smile speaks for him.