Lakeland High School: Haven Ryan keeps in step with school despite health struggles

Serious health issues, including a heart transplant at age 14, meant that Haven Ryan often had to miss school.

Still, she kept up with her education and will graduate this June before starting a work-study program.

“She’s a miracle,” said Lynn Stolken, a Lakeland High School extended life skills teacher.

As Ryan’s teacher for four years, Stolken has admired her strength and compassion. “She has a wicked sense of humor,” Stolken said. “With all the things she’s had to overcome, it makes her wise beyond her years.”

Ryan, 19, was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, meaning the left side of the heart was underdeveloped and too small to pump blood effectively.

She required early surgeries to reconstruct the aorta and redirect blood flow, but then had ongoing health concerns.

“I still miss school sometimes because I’m going to Seattle for checkups,” Ryan said. “I take immunosuppressant meds, and sometimes when I don’t feel good, I have seizures.”

Her mom Tanya Ryan said that her daughter’s first corrective procedure was at 10 days old.

“She had four open-heart surgeries as a child,” Tanya Ryan said. At 2 months, a second surgery didn’t go well.

“It failed and she coded, so they had to re-crack her chest open and do the whole thing over again,” her mom said. A third surgery came at age 3, but it all offered only a temporary reprieve.

“At 5 years old, she went into heart failure for the first time,” Tanya Ryan said.

Her daughter then got a pacemaker and was placed on a heart transplant waiting list.

Meanwhile, Ryan suffered seizures and required constant oxygen.

“Before my transplant, I had an oxygen tank on wheels,” Ryan said. “I had to bring it everywhere. I named it Jerry, like the mouse in ‘Tom and Jerry,’ because it was always chasing me around.”

Her heart transplant surgery came through in 2020 at Seattle Children’s Hospital. It lasted just over 17 hours.

She missed all of seventh grade. During some absences, Ryan said teachers and paraeducators would bring papers and check in. She attended school whenever possible. This year, her favorite Lakeland subjects included a culinary class and math.

Next, Ryan will do Project SEARCH, a one-year educational program for students with disabilities through Coeur d’Alene Public Schools and Kootenai Health. It combines classroom time with a yearlong unpaid internship at a Kootenai Health site.

Her favorite activity is babysitting, and she also rides horses. Ryan and her family live in the Hayden-Rathdrum area, including her sister Eden, 13, now at Lakeland.

Since her transplant, Ryan’s quality of life has improved, but she still has health challenges.

“She has her good days, she has her not-so-good days, but she’s always that student who will take that step forward with the struggles,” said Stolken, who also credits strong family support.

“Haven is incredibly fortunate to have a dedicated and compassionate support circle at home, and having people like Tanya, her mom, and Cindy, her grandmother, who provide an immediate, calming presence.”