BOSTON — A former patient at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston came up with a way to give back and stay athletic despite his injuries. After suffering serious burns at a bonfire on the Cape, the teen – now an adult – took up badminton; and he’s used it to raise tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s been several years since Ryan McDonald was a patient at Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston. He no longer needs treatment and yet he comes back every year with a check in hand.
“We’ve raised about $60,000 for the hospital in the past five years,” he said.
In 2008, when Ryan was 14 years old, he was at a bonfire on Cape Cod when his clothing caught fire. He suffered serious burns to his upper body.
“The injury itself was just extremely painful, luckily it was just my chest and arms,” McDonald said. “Some of the other patients here aren’t as lucky.”
He started playing badminton because of his injuries, which turned into a way to raise money for the hospital.
“I had limited mobility, so me and a friend started playing in the back yard and developed this tournament, and in the last seven or eight years we have grown it into a 100-plus person event where we have people coming from all over the world,” he said.
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McDonald’s raised about $60,000 dollars for Shriners.
“The fact that care goes on for years, I think there’s a higher propensity of patients, former patients and families that want to give back,” said Eileen Skinner, the Administrator for Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston.
McDonald has two messages, one about safety around fire.
“I was playing with gasoline in the fire and was mock stop-drop-and-rolling minutes before, and when it actually caught I stop, dropped and rolled and put it right out,” he said.
And another about perseverance and giving back.
“It was a great experience being here and the perseverance being here from the other kids is really life-changing,” McDonald said.
Ryan holds the tournaments in New Hampshire and on the Cape and will hold another one this summer. He says he hopes to continue every year.
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