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	<title>Ryan&#039;s Rally: We Got This</title>
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	<link>http://ryansrally.org</link>
	<description>I tell him I have tried. I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. There is so much injustice and suffering crying out for our attention. We must take sides. We must interfere.</description>
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		<title>Guest Post: One of Us.</title>
		<link>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/18/guest-post-one-of-us/</link>
		<comments>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/18/guest-post-one-of-us/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 May 2013 12:14:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ryan's Rally LLC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Post]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ryansrally.org/?p=9926</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Ali Thompson Almost Heaven… that is our state motto but I disagree with it. West Virginia IS Heaven, in every sense of the word! Growing up here was an honor. As a child, I would run freely through the fields, play in the creeks and steal a snack from the garden. I always felt such peace and most of all completely and totally safe. Neighbors were more like family as no one locked their doors and as a skinny child, it was the goal of the neighborhood to fatten me up so I was supplied a meal everywhere I went. What I wouldn’t give to go back to this magical time. My love of my state carried on into adolescence and adulthood. The first celebrity I ever heard of was Jerry West and of course the beloved West Virginia University. Many tears have been shed over losses by both the football and basketball teams and of course, much joy even as my father ripped the ceiling fan from its place after jumping for joy when the men’s basketball team made the Final Four in 2011. The stigma of my state has never bothered even me. Upon hearing I am from West Virginia, some people’s gazes turn to my feet to see if I am wearing shoes. My response has always been, “This is my very first pair. Am I doing okay with them?” My father’s response to this has always been that the stigma is fine with him as it keeps undesirables away from our beautiful state. Unfortunately, a gang of them were roaming the streets of Morgantown on November 7, 2009. A Virginia native who chose to further his education at WVU met an unspeakable fate this morning. Ryan Diviney’s life was forever changed in such a senseless tragedy that to this day is still difficult to come to terms with. I along with many friends travel to Morgantown every year to attend either a football or basketball game. We too have ventured out in the wee hours of the morning to a convenience store to satisfy a craving, just as Ryan did. The people we encountered were so friendly! One, dressed up as a Mountaineer, even picked me up, spun me around and kissed me on the cheek! That’s just how WVU fans are! We love our state, our team and each other! I don’t personally know Ryan or the Diviney family but their pictures tell a story of a young man very happy at WVU, with close friends and a love of West Virginia sports. That this tragedy happened in my state let alone at all is horrifying. Especially knowing others egged it on and did nothing to stop it. Had myself and my friends been there, we would have done everything in our power to protect Ryan as he was and remains to this day one of us, a proud Mountaineer through and through. I think of him and his family every day. I am so familiar with their blog I have their daily routine down pat in my mind. As I am preparing for work I say to myself, “I bet Ken and Ryan are deep into their therapy session by now.” I feel such a deep connection that I have never felt with anyone I don’t personally know. I feel this is due to the one thing we share, our love of West Virginia and WVU. I donate monthly to Ryan’s Trust Fund but feel compelled to do so much more. Therefore, the one thing I can do which, is what his father Ken says means the most, is to keep Ryan Relevant. I share his story with everyone I know and will continue to do so until Ryan completely recovers, no matter how long that may be. Once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer and we NEVER give up on each other.  Ryan will ALWAYS be “One of Us.”]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Therapy from Morning to Night</title>
		<link>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/14/therapy-from-morning-to-night/</link>
		<comments>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/14/therapy-from-morning-to-night/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2013 12:01:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ryan's Rally LLC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HBOT]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ryansrally.org/?p=9989</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ryan does hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) where he cycle thirty days on and thirty days off the treatment. He seems to enjoy doing this. At least I know it doesn&#8217;t bother him. It&#8217;s essential to his recovery but, damn, it eats up a lot of time. Three hours a day, broken into two sessions, to be exact. What that means is that when he is using it there is absolutely no give in his daily schedule. Zero. He began his &#8220;on&#8221; cycle today. Honestly, I don&#8217;t even know how we get all his therapies in during these times. I really don&#8217;t!  Still, it&#8217;s a good thing. It is so worth it. It means that Ryan is active and engaged. I believe that he is seldom bored. I keep him busy with all sorts of activities and therapies throughout the day and work in periods of relaxation. It even continues when we get him into bed a night. For instance, we work on him holding his head up. We stretch his fingers and toes. This is also the time that my wife, Sue, crawls into bed next to him and talks to him, asking him to &#8220;talk&#8221; back; which is better characterized as &#8220;vocalizing&#8221;. This would be sounds like coos, grunts, and moans. Ryan does this periodically, but the past two nights he has done exactly that! It&#8217;s encouraging. &#160; &#160;]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/14/therapy-from-morning-to-night/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
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		<title>Guest Post: Ryan and the Self-Proclaimed &#8220;Weird&#8221; Kid</title>
		<link>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/11/guest-post-ryan-and-the-self-proclaimed-weird-kid/</link>
		<comments>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/11/guest-post-ryan-and-the-self-proclaimed-weird-kid/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 May 2013 12:00:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ryan's Rally LLC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Post]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ryansrally.org/?p=9885</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I received the following emails that I wanted to share. One thing I know is Joshua, the author, is clearly not &#8220;weird&#8221;… at least not any more. May 3, 2013          11:48AM Fr: Joshua Groff To: Ken Diviney &#60;Kdiviney@ryansrally.org&#62; Ryan&#8217;s Impact on My Life Hello Ken, You have never heard from me before. For some reason, I have kept quiet. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t visit your site to check up on Ryan. Today I feel compelled to write to you. Before I go any farther, please let me share a little about myself and my experiences with Ryan. I grew up in Lancaster, PA where we are better known for our Amish and farming more than anything. We are a very tight community where family and relationships mean more to us than anything else. Like your family, my family was raised on the right principles. I grew up in a community that would come together in times of tragedy and in times of great joy. When I was in third grade I met my best friend who also happened to be named Ryan. We grew inseparable throughout the years. Our friendship never faltered, minus a few petty fights over women. However, our friendship took a major turn during the summer heading into our freshmen year [of high school]. Ryan started experiencing some health issues and after many tests it was determined he had Melanoma and was given less than 6 months to live. Like your son, [my friend] Ryan wouldn’t accept that fate. After aggressively fighting cancer and missing out on an entire year of school, Ryan’s cancer was in remission. Ryan overcame the odds and beat the cancer that the experts claimed he had no chance of beating. During that time, Ryan didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him. He wanted to be an example of his motto that “positive things happen to positive people”. During his fight, Ryan grew as a person and as a leader. Most people in our area knew Ryan and people looked up to him for it. A couple of years passed of him being cancer free, but tragedy struck yet again for him. He got the news that his cancer came back and this time it was even more aggressive. Ryan went into it with the same mentality as the first time. His family was his support, I supported him and the community supported him. Unfortunately this time around proved to be too much and on April 12, 2008 Ryan succumbed to cancer. At the time of his passing, I was devastated. I lost my best friend. I lost my brother. After mourning day and night, I knew I had to do something. I chose to do what Ryan did and that was fight. I needed to fight like he fought and I looked to his story as inspiration and as a driving force on what would guide me throughout the rest of my life. [My friend] Ryan always made fun of me for not going to college right away. I would have felt extremely guilty going away to school to know that my best friend was fighting for his life. There is not one part of me that regrets what I have done, and part of that is due to your son. I know that to this point this has been all about me and my friend named Ryan, but here is the part that I want you to know. I always wanted to go away to school and for multiple reasons I chose WVU. It was in the fall of 2008 when I first moved into the 7th Floor of Brooke Tower. As I’m sure you may recall, your son happened to be on the same floor and in fact he was in the room right next to me. I thought that going to WVU would be one of the easiest things I have ever done. I couldn’t have been anymore wrong. WVU was a complete culture shock for me. I had a hard time adjusting to the lifestyle and finding my place. I’m sure there were many people that thought I was the “weird” kid. In all reality maybe that is the case. One thing I can tell you for sure is that I was in complete disbelief on how the American culture is completely different from one part of the country to the next. Consider this ignorance on my behalf. Despite my struggles to really find a group or transition away from my ignorance was one person that made a remarkable impact on my life. That was and continues to be your son, Ryan. Ryan recognized me for who I was. A down to earth young man who was struggling after losing his best friend and was struggling adjusting to a culture that was completely different than anything he has ever experienced. That didn’t stop [your son] Ryan. I don’t think it is a coincidence that my best friend that passed away from cancer and your son has the same name. Your son realized that both he and I had one thing in common and that was our principles and beliefs. Ryan took time out of his life to make an impact on mine by getting to know me and by being my friend. I am forever grateful for how your son treated me and for the impact that he made on my life. I’m not sure what legal battles you are currently facing that are trying to say that Ryan wasn’t the person that you make him out to be. In fact, at times I don’t think you do him enough justice. He was every bit of a man that you could ask out of him. There are very few people out there that I would even consider comparing to your son. He was a man who is made out of the right stuff as evidence by his daily fight. Wishing [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/11/guest-post-ryan-and-the-self-proclaimed-weird-kid/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Back and Even Better</title>
		<link>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/10/back-and-even-better/</link>
		<comments>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/10/back-and-even-better/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 12:19:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ryan's Rally LLC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ryansrally.org/?p=9974</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ugh! Again last night I couldn&#8217;t get to sleep. Finally around two o&#8217;clock I just accepted it wasn&#8217;t in the cards and got up. I made myself a cup of coffee and did some work on the website. There is a lot on my mind with the civil case against Austin Vantrease and Jonathan May. Every time I try not to think about it I&#8217;m only successful for a minute or two. I&#8217;m not even sure it takes that long because every thought rolls into it so effortlessly. I catch myself again playing out all the scenarios. It&#8217;s like a broken record that skips on whatever track (i.e., scenario) I&#8217;m on. I am intent on breaking the cycle. It all really boils down to just one question. Will Ryan be denied his known and expressed beliefs, values, wishes, and desires? Only time will tell. I estimate that, for good or bad, the end of the month will bring that knowledge. In the meantime I&#8217;m required to get some information together and I&#8217;m making great progress on that. Really, I&#8217;m just waiting to hear back from people. Poor Ryan, though. I had him up and working out before five o&#8217;clock. I love getting a jump on the day&#8230; . no doubt about that. Ryan doesn&#8217;t seem to mind it either. This is certainly lining-up as a productive one too. Getting back to the work I did on the website overnight. You will now notice a new menu option (rightmost option on the menu bar above) that is titled &#8220;Guest Post&#8221; and it has two options under it: Submission Form &#8211; An easy way for you to submit a Guest Post. Guest Articles &#8211; Past guest articles (still need to find them all), upcoming guest articles, and a special section devoted to Sue&#8217;s posts (The Wife&#8217;s Turn). It is fully functional… I think. I tested it myself and it worked, but I&#8217;ll declare success when it works for someone else. Other than this, it&#8217;s just a matter of making it look prettier. It is clear, as the readers said, that these Guest Posts are  much appreciated and enjoyed. I love them too! So far they have been insanely good. Tomorrow&#8217;s will be no different. Here&#8217;s a teaser from post Ryan and the Self-Proclaimed “Weird” Kid, by Joshua Groff (May 11, 2013). I’m sure there were many people that thought I was the “weird” kid. In all reality maybe that is the case. Despite my struggles to really find a group or transition away from my ignorance was one person that made a remarkable impact on my life. That was and continues to be your son, Ryan. Ryan recognized me for who I was. A down to earth young man who was struggling after losing his best friend and was struggling adjusting to a culture that was completely different than anything he has ever experienced. Your son realized that both he and I had one thing in common and that was our principles and beliefs. Ryan took time out of his life to make an impact on mine by getting to know me and by being my friend. I am forever grateful for how your son treated me and for the impact that he made on my life. Just as any parent, I love hearing about the good in my children. Sure, I know they are high-quality people but it&#8217;s nice to hear it from others who knew him. Like tomorrow&#8217;s, it still takes me pleasantly by surprise. I&#8217;m also noticing that many of the younger adults are starting to reconnect. It makes sense too because they are at a time in their lives where they are transitioning from college to the working world. Priorities are shifting. They are getting a better appreciation for the circumstances now that they begin to think of finding the right person and starting a family. Hey, even just the change of environment is enough to cause reflection. Some apologize, saying they just don&#8217;t know why they didn&#8217;t reach out. Please know, that&#8217;s okay. I understand that you needed to focus on yourself during this time. Truth is, it&#8217;s exactly when you should have done. You did nothing that requires an apology to my family. We&#8217;re glad to have you back (and even better).]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/10/back-and-even-better/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>110 Million Seconds. $22 Million Harm.</title>
		<link>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/08/110-million-seconds-22-million-harm/</link>
		<comments>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/08/110-million-seconds-22-million-harm/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2013 12:58:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ryan's Rally LLC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ryansrally.org/?p=9907</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Please accept my apology for not putting out a post this week. I was consumed with legal affairs. Yesterday was spent on the road for a total of eight hours (round trip), plus around four hours involved in the actual legal process. It was a grueling day, both mentally and physically. Although vital to Ryan, it was rough but I am happy to have said what was needed. What people do with what I said is an entirely different story. I promise to get caught up on all my correspondence this morning too. It should not go without mention that yesterday also marked the 3-½ anniversary of the attack by Austin Vantrease and Jonathan May (both of Newark, Delaware). That&#8217;s 1,276 days. 30,624 hours. 1,837,440 minutes. 110,246,400 seconds. Each one of those hurt like hell. One-hundred-and-ten MILLION opportunities for Austin Vantrease and Jonathan May to do the right thing and accept accountability. 110 Million times they failed Ryan… in my opinion. Yes, I acknowledged this sickening anniversary but decided to focus on the positive. Namely, you. Despite Vantrease and May completely turning their backs on the damage and harm they inflicted, during those same 110 million seconds you, and people like you, came to Ryan&#8217;s cause. You surrounded him with the resources, respect, and love that simply cannot be measured by neither time nor money. Sue and I spent many days (and nights) wondering how we could ever manage this situation… circumstance we and Ryan never asked for. You have bailed Ryan and us out. I often refer to what it feels like as &#8220;being pulled from the wreckage&#8221;. Because of you we have not added personal debt. Sure, it took Sue and I throwing our money at this as well, and we know this will always be the case. It also means that my family has ZERO discretionary income. We spend, or save, everything for Ryan. To us, a new pair of shoes for ourselves seems frivolous. Heaven forbid even considering ordering the MLB sports package that Ryan and I once loved. There&#8217;s no room for such luxury in the Diviney household. We &#8212; or, more accurately, you &#8212; have turned the corner and are now actually adding to Ryan&#8217;s Special Needs Trust Fund! Let me say this again… Ryan&#8217;s Trust Fund is growing! It is slowly starting to acquire a small cushion for his future needs and I am committed to advancing this further. Sadly, there is a long, long way to go. Once this civil lawsuit is resolved I&#8217;d like to start sharing all this information with you. There&#8217;s even the potential that I can do this sooner. Some things that I&#8217;m excited to show you are: 1) The principal balance of the Ryan Diviney Special Needs Trust Fund, 2) Financial gift contributions through PayPal, 3) Amazon product gifts, 4) The total outstanding financial amounts that Vantrease and May are on the hook for, and so on. Heck, I guess I could even put up all the tax filings. Please let me know if there are other things that would interest you. I want everything to be transparent and readily available to anyone with an interest. What I envision is adding a page to the website that is formatted like a dashboard with this information. If I can figure out the coding, perhaps I can even make all of this dynamic… real-time. What I mean by that is if a person makes a gift contribution through, say, PayPal then the cleared transaction (minus personal information) will instantly be shown in Ryan&#8217;s Trust fund. At a minimum, a quarterly (or even monthly) accounting seems timely enough. One important thing I ask is for you is to put this information into context. The first benchmark that I hope sticks in your mind is that the civil lawsuit estimates approximately $22 million. That is, in fact, the civil claim filed before the Federal Court. Brain injury is expensive. No doubt about that.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://ryansrally.org/2013/05/08/110-million-seconds-22-million-harm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
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