Ryan Arthur Payne

Ryan Arthur Payne was born on November 30th in Toronto, Ontario. He grew up in Innisfil from age five months to 28 years old (that's the age that he passed away). His family included Sean, Anne, Gary, Kerri and Allen (dad, nanny, grandfather, aunt and great grandfather). Ryan Payne went to elementary school here at Goodfellow Public School, and went to high school at Innisdale. His favourite interests as a youth were dirt biking and sports such as hockey, baseball, soccer and football

Ryan Payne's main influences in life were his father Gary Payne and his grandfather Allen Payne. Ryan Payne always wanted to do the same things as his father and wanted to trust his father for everything he said and did. Gary and Allen Payne taught Ryan to do the right things and to be a responsible adult in life.

My uncle Ryan had some difficult challenges in his life. Ryan experienced having nine surgeries, seven to repair being cross eyed and two to repair a broken leg in a dirt biking accident. Ryan Payne also had a disease called Multiple Sclerosis; Multiple Sclerosis is also known as MS. MS is a disease in your central nervous system that doesn't allow you to have feeling in your body. These challenges affected my hero because when he was cross-eyed he got picked on at school; having MS he wasn't able to walk at times, and him having a broken leg he was in a cast for nine and a half months.

I think that my hero makes me feel important because, when he died he proved to me that life is important and shorter that you think. He once told me that you should always be prepared for bad things to happen but remember to be strong about it. Ryan Payne also inspired me to Walk for MS to find a cure so important people like mothers and fathers aren't dying from it.

My uncle Ryan is a hero to me because when he had MS he was very sick but he never gave up. He didn't want to ask for anybody's help because he knew that he had legs and a heart and he could do it himself. My uncle is also a hero to me because no matter what, I knew that he was there for me no matter what.