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SALT LAKE CITY — Scanning, sorting, dropping: At the in-patient pharmacy at Primary Children's Hospital, you'll find a robot designed to serve.
"It does the work for us," said Ryan Bahr, while showing the robot that pulls medication for patients.
The pharmacy is where you'll find Bahr, a young man taking his first steps into the world.
"My own experiences have led me to want to give back," he said.
Those experiences helped him decide to work at the hospital.
"I used to get teased because I couldn't do gym and things like that," Bahr said.
This 20-year-old has spent more time in the hospital than most spend in their entire lives. He was born with what's called bilateral club feet.
"My right (foot) was actually turned upwards, and then also in," Bahr said.
He's had 10 surgeries, beginning when he was just 5 months old.
"In high school, I went around on a scooter," he said. "People enjoyed stealing scooters and riding them through the halls."
Bahr's spent a lifetime watching from the sidelines in crippling pain, hoping each surgery would be his last. "But then it would turn into another one and another one," he said, "and that's partially why I decided to go with amputation."
Last year, Bahr chose voluntary amputation of his right foot. In order to move forward, he left a piece of himself behind — and that decision led him to make another.
"Since this was such a big life trial, I guess you can say, for me, to thank everybody and to give back to the hospital, we'd do this," he said.
"This" was a big donation. Among the rows at the Festival of Trees Bahr's own tree stood tall.
"All the trees are donated by people, like my family, who wanted to give back to children," he said.
Each tree has a theme. The one Bahr created is a celebration of what he's lost - and what he's gained. His tree's title is "A Walk in the Woods," and the buyer also received the gifts Bahr placed beneath it: a tent, a sleeping bag, and other items related to the outdoors.
"I was told I could do almost anything I wanted to, that I couldn't do prior to my amputation," he said. "Last year, I went hiking for the first time on a prosthetic. I've done 7 miles in a day, up to Boy Scout Lookout in Zion National Park. In August, I went to Hawaii and went bodyboarding. And everybody on the beach would say, 'I didn't know you could do that with a fake foot!' I couldn't feel the sand, but it still was the same."
But with all this freedom, Ryan hasn't forgotten what it's like to be trapped in a hospital. He doesn't just work at one, he's also a volunteer, spending several hours a week visiting with sick children.
"And the kids, they all call me the robotic boy," Bahr said.
More accurately, Bahr is a boy with a robotic foot, who's learned what it means to serve.
"I used to say that I was bad off, but now I never say that," he said. "Those kids with cancer, they're worse than me, and they have a better attitude. It makes me think about what I do have, and where I've been, and where I can go from here."
Like the other trees at the festival, Bahr's tree was auctioned off, and the money raised will go to helping kids whose families can't afford the care given by Primary Children's Hospital "to pay for the surgeries (and) the hospital stay," Bahr explained.
Bahr hopes to make a career in pediatric medicine. He works at the pharmacy and is also in college, with plans to become an anesthesiologist.
Contributing: Ashley Kewish
Ray Boone is a photojournalist for KSL-TV. Contact him at rboone@ksl.com
