Ryan’s walk for awareness

In February 2019, Ryan Wayne was enjoying a night out with his friends in Birmingham city centre when things took a turn for the worse. He was tragically involved in a knife attack in the early hours of the morning, but now wants to raise money and awareness for the hospital that saved his life.

Ryan, a primary school teacher in Yardley, was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham’s Trauma Unit where doctors assessed the injuries on a CT scanner and it was discovered that the attack had severely lacerated his liver.

Talking about the attack and the care he received at the hospital, Ryan said: “I was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital because of a devastating knife attack, and this hospital and its staff saved my life.

“Knife crime incidents in the UK have reached astronomical numbers and after being personally affected by knife crime, I fully understand its effects. The offences continue to rise and have risen rapidly in the last four years. Teachers, social workers, police and parents need to come together and work together to stop this epidemic and rid the streets of violence and trauma. We must stand together.”

After surgery performed by specialist liver and trauma surgeons, Ryan spent a week in the Intensive Care Unit and then one week on Ward 726 before he was finally discharged at the beginning of March.

Whilst in hospital, Ryan’s best friend, Craig Butler, decided to fundraise for the hospital that saved Ryan’s life so for his birthday appealed to his Facebook friends to donate just £1 to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity to help fund a Mobile CT Scanner, which will be used to save even more lives like Ryan’s. Craig raised an incredible £1,162 on Facebook to help the Charity fund this new piece of equipment.

Ryan said: “I was brutally attacked simply because of the face that I would not give them my mobile phone and some loose change. Where is the logic in that?”

Thanks to the care Ryan received at the hospital, he was discharged at the beginning of March to begin his road to recovery. Now, he wants to raise even more money for the hospital and raise awareness of knife crime. Since being discharged from hospital, he has created an educational knife crime workshop which he plans to present to the pupils that he teaches at school.

Ryan will be taking on the challenge of walking from Lichfield to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham on June 30, a total of 18 miles, which will take around six hours to complete.

You can support Ryan on his journey and donate to his JustGiving page here: justgiving.com/charitywalkforawareness.