Teen revels in new challenges

He’s legally blind and must use a wheelchair, but 15-year-old Ryan Boatner’s cerebral palsy didn’t stop him from climbing a 30-foot wall at camp last summer. Strapped into a harness, the teenager pulled himself up the wall handhold by handhold.

“He was very excited when he was done,” said Monica Aguirre, recreation coordinator of the Foundation for the Junior Blind, which sent Ryan to camp. “Just putting on the harness is a challenge; we celebrate everything.”

Ryan’s vision has been poor since he was an infant. At age 2, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. “I have pictures of him running around the house like a normal kid,” said his mom, Joni Urie, adding that all of a sudden, “he started dragging his foot.”

He used to be able to walk with the aid of a walker, but now his leg movements are severely reduced, so Ryan has to use a wheelchair.

The teenager, whose mental acuity is at the level of a third-grader, must depend on others for help with many of his daily activities. But that doesn’t stop him from playing basketball and going to concerts.

Teen camp at Camp Bloomfield is a great opportunity for the classic-rock fanatic to spend time with a number of similarly challenged kids.

“He needed to experience things that I can’t do with him, away from me, to be with kids his own age, to learn. I am not going to go climb a wall,” Urie said, adding that when camp is over, “he’s filthy dirty and happy and tired, and he has stories to tell and awards. He comes home with all kinds of stuff. It’s all up in his room.”

Next month, Ryan will spend another week at the Malibu camp with help from the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Fund. The visually impaired campers participate in traditional activities using modified equipment, such as archery targets that beep and balls with interior bells that ring when they roll.

Although most attend alone, Ryan is accompanied by his dad, who helps him do the things he can’t do by himself, such as tying his shoes.

When he’s not at school, Ryan keeps busy. The happy guy loves it when his dad, whom he visits every weekend, takes him to the movies or fishing at the Santa Monica Pier.

During the week, he plays basketball and goes to classic-rock concerts with his stepdad. In May, they had a great time at the Staples Center seeing REO Speedwagon, Styx and Journey.

About 11,000 children will go to camp this summer thanks to the $1.4 million raised last year.

The annual fund-raising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make credit card donations, visit www.latimes.

com/summercamp. To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash.

Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $25 or more are acknowledged in The Times.