Fundraiser set for Warrior baseball player who suffered broken neck

A fundraiser for Ryan Stewart, the Fallbrook High School freshman who broke his neck during a junior varsity baseball game, has been scheduled for Sunday, May 15, in the parking lot of the Happy Jug market on the corner of South Mission Road and Ammunition Road.

The car wash and bake sale will take place from noon to 4 p.m. Donations are being requested for those utilizing the car wash.

Stewart, a lifelong Fallbrook resident, had been the catcher on Fallbrook’s junior varsity baseball team this year. The Warriors played a March 23 game at Del Norte, which has a spacious area between home plate and the backstop. Del Norte had a runner on second when a pitch went past Stewart towards the backstop. Stewart recovered the ball, and although the third base coach had given the sign for the runner to hold at third, the runner sought to score. None of Stewart’s teammates were covering home plate, so Stewart dove to the plate. Stewart tagged the runner out, but the runner’s knee caught Stewart’s head and moved it forward.

Stewart’s father, Dale, is the public announcer for junior varsity home games. Dale Stewart is professionally a captain with the City of Oceanside’s fire department and has been a paramedic for 30 years. The elder Stewart took precautions to immobilize his son, and an ambulance maintained the immobilization precautions while transporting Ryan Stewart to Scripps Hospital La Jolla.

A computer-assisted tomography (CAT) scan was taken and was followed by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. The CAT scan and MRI revealed fractures of the C4 and C5 vertebrae. The imagery also revealed that the fracture was approximately one millimeter away from Stewart’s spinal cord.

Stewart spent the night in the trauma room and had surgery on the afternoon of March 25. The C5 vertebra was severely fractured and was removed. A spacer was inserted, and the C4 and C6 vertebrae were fused together. Stewart remained in intensive care through March 27 and was released from the hospital the night of March 28.

Stewart remains in a rigid cervical collar he will wear for a total of six to eight weeks. The range of motion for his neck is still to be determined, as the injuries also included muscle and ligament tears, but there are no observed neurological defects and he can move his arms and legs. Stewart is experiencing some problems with swallowing and may need a second surgery for that condition, and he will also be undergoing physical therapy.

Stewart is currently studying under the home hospital program and is expected to return to Fallbrook High School in May. He attended Zion Lutheran School through sixth grade and was at Potter Junior High School for seventh and eighth grades.

Stewart played Fallbrook Youth Baseball from the T-ball through Pony League levels. He has been an outfielder as well as a catcher, although his ability to catch in the future is in doubt.

In addition to the May 15 fundraiser for Stewart’s medical expenses, the http://www.giveforward.org website now has a Ryan Stewart Medical Fund page. The page was set up on the afternoon of April 6, and first-day notification was provided through family e-mails and Facebook postings. In the first 24 hours, the giveforward.org page raised more than $1,500.

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