GROWING UP QUICKLY; ROYAL VOLLEYBALL PLAYER DENIHAN HAD TO CARE FOR HIS DYING MOTHER.Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer Ryan Ryan may refer to: Places
He fed her, helped her to the bathroom, bathed her and dressed her. He was a high school freshman. ``I had to grow up really quick,'' the Royal High School senior volleyball volleyball, outdoor or indoor ball and net game played on a level court. An upright net, 3 ft (or 1 m) high, the top of which stands 8 ft (2.43 m) from the ground for men, 7 ft 4 1/8 in (2. player said. ``There were responsibilities I had to take and I had to accept the fact my mother was going to pass away.'' After four months of caring for her, she died a day after her 43rd birthday in December 1993. ``It was the hardest thing I'll ever do,'' he said. ``No one my age wants to do something like that. You forego part of your childhood. ``(On the other hand) I'm glad I took care of her. To be able to spend the last few months with her, I'm glad.'' Denihan has been a big factor in the Highlanders (16-0) season. He helped them win an eighth straight Marmonte League The Marmonte League is a high school sports league primarily made up of schools from Ventura County. The Marmonte Leauge is part of the CIF Southern Section. Click here to view the league schedule. title and earn a top seeding in the Southern Section Division I playoffs. Royal is seeded second and will host the winner of Wednesday's wild-card match between Palmdale and Hart in a first-round match on Friday. Denihan, a 6-foot-5 middle blocker, is second on the team with 201 kills and first in kill percentage (56 percent). He also has 77 stuff blocks. Yet when he was caring for his mother in Chicago, he had never played volleyball. His high school didn't have a team. His parents divorced when he was 1, and he moved to the Chicago suburb suburb, a community in an outlying section of a city or, more commonly, a nearby, politically separate municipality with social and economic ties to the central city. In the 20th cent. of Palatine Palatine, hill, Rome Palatine, hill: see Rome before Augustus and Roman Empire under Rome. Palatine, village, United States Palatine (păl`ətīn), village (1990 pop. with his mother to be near her parents. Denihan was always close to his mother; she was also like a friend. Sherry even introduced him to sports - he played basketball and ran track at Palatine High School Palatine High School is a high school in District 211 in Illinois, located at 1111 N. Rohlwing Rd in Palatine. It serves primarily those areas of Palatine north and east of the C&NW tracks, but also serves as a magnet school for the entire district's special education program. . His life changed in August of 1993, two years after Sherry had been diagnosed. The family has a history of cancer - Denihan's maternal MATERNAL. That which belongs to, or comes from the mother: as, maternal authority, maternal relation, maternal estate, maternal line. Vide Line. grandfather beat skin cancer before dying last year of brain cancer at age 68. ``I almost thought she'd fight through it,'' Denihan said. As Sherry's condition worsened, Denihan and his older sister, Heather, began staying home from school to care for their mother. Understandably, his grades dropped. Denihan went from a 3.1 GPA GPA abbr. grade point average Noun 1. GPA - a measure of a student's academic achievement at a college or university; calculated by dividing the total number of grade points received by the total number attempted to 2.0. ``No matter what I was doing, I couldn't keep my mind off my mom (1) (Messaging-Oriented Middleware) See messaging middleware. (2) (Microsoft Operations Manager) Software that monitors and captures system and application events throughout the network. ,'' he said. ``I felt empty. It was hard to see her like that.'' Although he was going through a trying time, his friends at school hardly noticed. ``You'd never see him feel dejected de·ject·ed adj. Being in low spirits; depressed. See Synonyms at depressed. de·ject  ed·ly adv. ,'' said Mike
Richard, a friend of Denihan's. ``Even around me, he was like this
macho man. He wouldn't break down. . . . I thought he was doing the
right thing. He was probably acting better than most kids could.
``Most kids aren't as responsible to take on these extra duties.'' Ryan's father, David, spoke to his children every couple of weeks, and one day they invited him to come see how bad it was. ``I wouldn't wish it upon anyone,'' David said. ``Your parents are supposed to die before you, but not when you're in school.'' Sherry's memory was the final thing to go. On Nov. 26, Ryan moved out to make room for the live-in nurse A Live-in nurse is a Registered Nurse who is employed to provide care for one patient whilst living in the patient's home. Live-in nurses working through an employment agency may spend a number of days, weeks or months with one client before moving on to another, though long-term the family hired. In his mother's final days, he never could be sure if she knew what was going on. After Sherry's death, Denihan finished out the school year and moved to California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). to be with his father, who he hardly knew. He was angry about the loss and the move. His father saw it. ``After the funeral After the Funeral is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1953 under the title of Funerals are Fatal , it was difficult for him to break down,'' David said. ``He really loved his mother, and she supported him.'' It took about a year for Ryan to feel comfortable with his father and his father's wife, Evelyn. ``They'd want to know everything,'' he said. ``I figured it was my business. It felt really awkward.'' Now, Denihan considers Evelyn his mother. ``Stepmother'' isn't a term used in the house. At Royal, Denihan continued to play basketball, but his height (then 6-3) and his athletic ability caught the attention of volleyball coach Bob Ferguson. ``I encouraged him to come out,'' Ferguson said. ``He picked it up real fast. He could hit and his jumping ability made him a decent blocker, decent for one who had never played before.'' Ferguson especially liked Denihan's ability to move quickly from side to side, which is critical to the success of a middle blocker. His playing time increased as a junior, and he started this year. Colleges haven't taken much interest, Ferguson said, because they're busy recruiting 6-7 or taller middle blockers. Schools that don't get them will come after Denihan. ``Ryan's always intense. He's always very focused,'' Ferguson said. ``He plays hard. He practices hard.'' Denihan learned to go all out from caring for his mother. ``I appreciate things a lot more, and I don't take people for granted,'' he said. ``Being able to spend time with people, even for a short time, is a good experience.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Royal High's Ryan Denihan sacrificed part of his childhood caring for his dying mother. Jeremy Greene / Special to the Daily News |
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