B.C. man overcoming debilitating stroke by spreading smiles and creating adaptive tools

“Smiling makes the world go round”: Adam finds out how a man who forgot who he was remembered to find joy.

VANCOUVER — One moment, Ryan Hietanen was riding his bike, and then he collapsed.

“It happened like that,” Ryan says, recalling how quickly he turned from feeling fine to being anything but.

The next moment, he was waking up in a hospital.

“I forgot everything.” Ryan says. “Everything.”

Not only did Ryan not remember who he was, he didn’t know he was married with two kids, and he certainly didn’t recognize the woman saying she was his mom.

“I was terrified,” Ann Siddaway recalls.

Ann says her son had suffered a stroke, before enduring brain injury and being unresponsive for weeks.

“At that point, they weren’t sure if he was even going to make it,” Ann says.

Until that day, Ryan’s wife and kids walked around the corner in his hospital room.

“His face just lit up!” Ann says, fighting back happy tears. “Absolutely lit up!”

“I suddenly remembered!” Ryan smiles. “I have a daughter! I have a son!”

“And we all kind of went, ‘This is what he needed,’” Ann smiles. “He needed a purpose.”

Inspired by his family, Ryan has fought to learn how do the most basic of things again, and with the help of his health-care team, he is celebrating unexpected accomplishments.

“I wouldn’t have survived without them,” Ryan smiles.

But Ryan is also thriving by seeing the positive possibilities in his condition.

“Laughter is a thing,” Ryan explains, when asked why he often punctuates what he says with a chuckle.

Ryan’s stroke caused him to suffer from Aphasia, which makes it challenging to speak. But instead of showing frustration when he struggles to find a word, Ryan chooses to smile instead.

“Smiling makes the world go round,” he beams.

While Ryan is deeply disappointed that he can no longer work as a technical art director at a major video game company, he’s choosing to use his skills to do something that’s satisfying in a different way.

“This is my 3D area,” Ryan says, gesturing to the corner of his living room.

When he lost the ability to use his right arm and hand, Ryan taught himself how to use design software and a 3D printer to invent and construct all sorts of adaptive tools to help with everyday activities.

Ryan’s creations range from one-handed nail clippers to one-handed toothpaste dispensers.

“I want to give back,” Ryan says.

So Ryan put up posters and launched a website, offering to custom print all of his inventions for anyone who could benefit from them for free.

“To change lives would be the best that I can be,” Ryan says.

And instead of mourning what he’s lost, Ryan is choosing to celebrate all the good he can find.

“You have to find joy in your life,” Ann smiles. “And Ryan has.”