The Woman Who Always Showed Up—Until Life Asked Her to Pause
Some people don’t just work jobs.
They carry people.
Rickie Ryan is one of those rare souls who became a safe place for others long before she ever realized how deeply she was needed. As a social worker in the Cherry Creek School District, Rickie has spent her days standing beside children who needed more than guidance—they needed understanding, patience, and someone who believed in them when the world felt heavy.
She was that person.
To her students, Rickie wasn’t just support—she was stability.
To her colleagues, she was light.
To everyone who knows her, she was the one who showed up, no matter what.
Then, without warning, Rickie became the one facing the unthinkable.
She was recently diagnosed with choroidal melanoma, a rare and aggressive form of eye cancer. A diagnosis that arrives quietly but lands like a storm. One moment, life is moving forward as planned. The next, everything stops—and the future suddenly feels fragile and uncertain.
As Rickie began processing the emotional weight of this diagnosis, another reality quickly followed: the specialized surgery and care she urgently needs are being denied by insurance. Because of the complexity of her condition, the very treatment that could protect her future is caught in a fight that may or may not resolve in time.
While an agency works tirelessly on her behalf, the outcome remains unknown.
And time is not something cancer waits for.
Rickie now finds herself facing not only the fear of what lies ahead medically, but the crushing stress of how it will all be managed. The appointments. The procedures. The recovery. The time away from the work and children she loves so deeply.
For someone who has spent her life lifting others, asking for help does not come easily.
But here’s the truth everyone who knows Rickie understands:
She deserves the same care, strength, and compassion she has given so freely to others.
Rickie is a fierce advocate for justice. A woman with an enormous heart. The kind of person whose laughter fills a room and makes hard days lighter. (Yes—she truly did win “Best Laugh” in high school, and anyone who’s heard it knows why.)
Now, in the most difficult season of her life, Rickie needs her community to surround her—not because she is weak, but because even the strongest among us need to be held sometimes.
This is one of those moments.
Her story is still unfolding. The road ahead is uncertain. But what is certain is that Rickie has changed countless lives simply by being who she is.
And now, her story asks something of us.
To pause.
To feel.
To stand with someone who has always stood for others.
