Ryan’s Story
He bravely fought Leukemia, but his story is about so much more.
Ryan Maguire Turner was born on November 16, 1989.
The spunky brown-haired Ryan was the light of his mother Miriam’s life and the son that Shaun had dreamed of since his teenage years.
Shaun says, "I knew if I ever had a son his name would be Ryan, but I never imagined that one young boy would have the ability to change my life and the lives of others in so many ways."
Earnest prayers
"I will never forget the evening we had together on August 14," Shaun said. "Ryan was in good spirits. Miriam, her mother Marcia, and my sister Maureen and I were having dinner with Ryan as we always did. We watched a movie together, and as we were getting ready to pray with Ryan and put him to bed, Marcia began singing beautiful hymns to Ryan. The staff was coming in and out as usual, and this beautiful, peaceful voice was filling our room."
They prayed with Ryan, and as the others left to go home, Shaun began to play a tape of classical music they had just received. "I had never played it before, but it also was beautiful as I tucked Ryan in and we fell asleep."
On August 15, Ryan woke up in his hospital room at 2 a.m. He asked for a cup of noodles, and he and his father watched the movie "Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles" until the two of them fell asleep once again. Shaun can still remember lying in the darkened room. "Just like air," he said as he had done many times before, and Ryan finished the sentence, "God is there."
Later that morning, Shaun spent some time in prayer. "I was praying for two things. On the one hand, I was asking God for an outright healing to astound the medical community. But on the other hand, I was also praying for God's will to be done whatever that might be."
"I took Ryan's yellow snack ticket for that day and on the back I wrote out a specific praise that I was in earnest prayer for. I had never done this before and I started by writing the praise, thanking God for outright healing to astound the medical community. Ryan was in such a difficult medical condition, I knew that if he were to attain a complete recovery, it would gain widespread attention. I also listed ten specific medical hurdles that had to be overcome if Ryan was going to be cured of the disease. I remember praying fervently in acknowledgment of these requests at his bedside. I did not know as I was praying in support of this tiny piece of yellow paper that Ryan would indeed be "whole" again with Christ in less than one hour."
Ryan Maguire Turner was laid to rest in Colville, Washington, on August 21, 1997. During the celebration of his life, Shaun addressed the gathering of friends and family members.
"God's choices are always perfect," he told them and read the words of Lamentations 3:22-24, a passage that had helped him greatly. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him."
Written by Sheryl Potter
Copyright, 1998 Horizon Magazine, Fellowship Bible Church of Northwest Arkansas. Reprinted by permission.
I will not doubt; well anchored is this faith,
Like some staunch ship, my soul braves every gale,
So strong its courage that it will not fail
To breast the mighty unknown sea of Death.
Oh, may I cry when body parts with spirit,
I do not doubt, so listening worlds may hear it,
With my last breath.
— ELLA WHEELER WILCOX