4th-Grader In Wheelchair Is Piggybacked By Teacher So She Can Go On Field Trip

Jun 04, 2020

A Louisville, Kentucky girl bound to a wheelchair because of a disease called 'spina bifida' was carried by her teacher, Jim Freeman, during a field trip to a park last Fall.

Ryan King is a special little girl who was born with a harsh disease—spina bifida. Her family, who is from Louisville, Kentucky, knew that they would have to deal with a lot of obstacles along the way after she was born on July 7, 2009. However, it is heartwarming to know that teachers exist who help her out more than they could have ever imagined.

Ryan has a Facebook page dedicated specifically to her. On it, her mother wrote that they were only able to be with her for a couple of minutes after she was born before doctors took her to surgery. She wasn't even hours old when she had a surgery that would close up her back while draining the fluid from her brain. 

After five very long weeks, the Ryan family was finally able to hold their daughter for the first time. Her mother said that it felt as though she had the entire world in her hands when she held her and took her back home.

Her mom continued to say that instead of sleeping that night, she sat up and watched Ryan sleep. Around 11 p.m. that night, Ryan stopped breathing and her mother had to start mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for the daughter to respond. It was off to the emergency room again, where Ryan was put back into the NICU (newborn intensive care unit). This time, she was there for a month getting test after test. Doctors insisted that she only had reflux.

Ryan is now in a wheelchair and has fought off a host of other issues, such as infections, asthma, and even a coma. However, she is happy and keeps up the fight, according to her mother. But when it comes to school outings for soon-to-be 11-year-old, it can be difficult because she is in a wheelchair. She often has to sit them out.

Jim Freeman, her teacher, wasn't about to let that happen on an outing to the Ohio fossil beds last September. He made the little girl an offer that she really couldn't resist. As CBS reported, he told Ryan that he would be willing to use a backpack carrier to carry her around all day so that she could enjoy the trip with the rest of her classmates.

In a Facebook post, the Ryan's mother wrote:

“I was preparing for an ‘alternate field trip day’ when a male teacher reached out and said ‘I’m happy to tote her around on the falls all day!’”

What a wonderful, caring teacher! What did you think of this story? Tell us in the comments and then pass this along!