Profile by Laura Wutzke "You can't argue with stuff that God's done."

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Profiles | Send mail to The Voice Samples adapts as he loses sight Ryan Samples enjoys an evening of games with Jesse Calvert and Dan Hall. Stargardts disease has not prevented him from spending a lot of time with Multnomah students. -Daniel Stent, photo The deterioration began when resident director Ryan Samples was 16. He entered a fog as his central vision slowly diminished. He had Stargardts Disease. His central vision disappeared and all he had left was his peripheral vision of 20/200. Mr. Samples found himself legally blind. Mr. Samples became a resident director at Multnomah in 1999, two years after graduating from Western Baptist and eight years after being diagnosed with Stargardts Disease. Because the resident director position is a new one, Dean Bob Bailey and Mr. Samples worked together to design a job profile made flexible to change as the school changes. The job profile involves overseeing the male dorm houses and upper White Hall, assisting Dean Bailey in training and supervising resident assistants, counseling male students, and assisting the dean of men and resident director Joe Slavens in a variety of activities. Mr. Samples' job is to meet the needs of male students in the houses he oversees. Because the students are always changing, his position is always changing and adapting. Mr. Samples knows well how to adapt; he began adapting when diagnosesd with Stargardts disease while a sophomore at Sandy High School in Sandy, Ore. Stargardts is a genetic disease that begins by attacking the central vision. The disease progresses with age and eventually leaves only the peripheral vision remaining. Most people with the disease are legally blind. Legal blind-ness is considered worse than 20/200 vision in the better eye. Peripheral vision is naturally about 20/200. Mr. Samples' vision rapidly deteriorated into legal blindness in one year. The change was profound for someone who was still a teen-ager. Mr. Samples found the condition difficult to talk about with his friends. He remembered one spring evening when he had returned home from a camp reunion where he had tried and failed to tell several friends about the disease. Once home, he watched a television show about a young girl who couldn't tell her father she loved him. The father left the girl, and she professed her love in an empty room. After the movie, Mr. Samples went into his darkened bedroom, closed the door and cried out to God. "Why me?" he asked. Then he remembered the lyrics of a song from camp: "I felt every teardrop when in darkness you cried. And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died." Mr. Samples said he realized that "Christ died on the cross so that I could have the strength to get through every day; I can have hope." Mr. Samples seeks to share this hope with people. He usually has a difficult time bringing up his struggle with Stargardts disease. "[Stargardts is] not something to bring up in light conversation, but I do like talking about it, " he said. Testimony times provide good opportunities to share, but Mr. Samples admitted that most people at Multnomah are unaware of his disease. Many people express unbelief when they learn that he is blind, and few people notice anything different about him in the first place. Most people who struggle with the disease have common complaints, according to the Western Australian Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation's website. Because peripheral vision remains, people with Stargardts can maneuver around objects with few problems. The outside observer has difficulty detecting that the individual is legally blind. "Some people, I think, get offended by [my disease] because they think I'm in a bad mood. I had one guy come up to me and ask, 'What was wrong earlier? You looked right through me and kept on going.' 'I told him, 'I didn't see you there.'" Although sharing about his disease with people such as his friends at Multnomah is usually a challenge, Mr. Samples is glad for the opportunities the disease does give him to share and encourage others. He remembered a particular camper he met when he was a camp director at Trout Creek Bible Camp. The camper's parents were divorcing, and one of the boy's closest friends was in the hospital. Later in the week the camper got a call telling him that his friend had died. Mr. Samples shared how God had helped him through all his trials. After listening to him, the boy thanked Mr. Samples. "You can't argue with stuff that God's done," Mr. Samples said. Not all reactions to Mr. Samples' testimony have been positive. One woman was convinced that God would miraculously heal him. She prayed over him and assured him that he was now healed. The more Mr. Samples thought about the situation, the more he realized that he had put his trust in the hope of the miracle rather than in God. "Which is the bigger miracle: God healing my eyes instantly or God walking me through [hardships] day by day?" Mr. Samples said, "I like the first [miracle] better, but I think the second one's the bigger one." Mr. Samples has learned that God uses the hardships of life to draw people closer to Himself. Mr. Samples understands that God can make good come out of hardship. He desires to see people deepen their relationship with God through honesty and accountability. He tries to keep the resident assistants under him accountable by meeting with them once a week in triads. He wants them to learn that the more they understand God's love, the more His love will change them. Dean Bob Bailey said he is amazed by the work Mr. Samples does with the RAs he oversees: "[Stargardts] has made him more sensitive to the needs of people. One of his greatest strengths is his compassion," Dean Bailey said. But Mr. Samples' compassion has come with a price. As a result of Stargardts, he experiences migraines and headaches. He has difficulty reading. He can't drive and has to ask for rides. He is unsure of his future as his vision continues to deteriorate. "I don't know how much [of my eyesight] I'll lose before I can't do stuff anymore," he said. In spite of his uncertain future, Mr. Samples knows that where God wants him to be is the best place for him to be. And for now, that is as resident director at Multnomah where he goes to meetings, encourages those around him and shares when he can. Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Profiles | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2002 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.