Ryan Shazier: Doctors must offer grace

Ryan Shazier says he is grateful for the doctors and nurses who helped him walk again.

Shazier, a star linebacker with the Pittsburgh Steelers, suffered a career-ending spinal cord injury in a 2017 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Since then, he’s defied the odds in his recovery.

He also has created the Ryan Shazier Fund, which offers assistance to those with spinal cord injuries.

Shazier talked about the fund and his mission to help other patients in a recent interview with Chief Healthcare Executive®. He stressed his appreciation for his doctors. He returned to UC Medical Center in Cincinnati last month to thank physicians, nurses and staff on the eighth anniversary of his injury.

In the interview, Shazier talked about his own recovery. He offered an interesting perspective when asked if there are ways physicians could do better for their patients.

“I have a good relationship with a lot of my doctors, and they did a great job with this,” Shazier says. “But one of the things I tell doctors often is that sometimes they could do a better job with providing information with grace.”

“Sometimes they become so numb to the information because … they deal with it so much that, sometimes they don't understand how impactful that can be to somebody,” he adds.

After his injury, Shazier was initially told he only had a 20% chance of regaining the ability to walk. Shazier is walking today, albeit with a slight limp.

Shazer says he understands doctors aren’t trying to be discouraging when they have to tell a patient about daunting odds for a full recovery.

But he also says doctors can help their patients by also adding that all patients are different, and the statistics of others don’t always reflect an individual patient’s chances of recovery.

So if a patient asks about the prospects of walking again, Shazier suggests that doctors can be candid while still offering encouragement.

Shazier suggests doctors can acknowledge when the odds of a full recovery aren’t the best. But doctors can also encourage their patients to push through to do what they can to maximize their recovery.

And even in a situation where only a smaller percentage of patients have regained the ability to walk, doctors can help their patients by sharing that some patients have walked again.

“Sometimes provide a little bit of hope,” Shazier says.

“I understand that you don't want to provide too much hope … But I think you're just trying to find that gray area between hope and grace and belief,” he says.

Patients also need to see that their doctors care about them, and physicians need to show that.

“If the patient sees that you care about them, that's what they care about the most,” Shazier says.

Shazier, who is based in the Pittsburgh area, is looking to help more patients with spinal cord injuries. The Ryan Shazier fund has given more than $1 million in stipends to families, and recently expanded. It is now offering services to patients across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.

He wants to offer encouragement to patients with spinal cord injuries.

“No matter what somebody tells you, no matter what you hear, just continue to have hope in whatever you're doing,” he says. “A lot of people lose hope because they don't hear the advice that they want to hear, or somebody else doesn't believe in them.”

Shazier also says it’s important for patients to find support from others who can offer encouragement.

“You just have to continue to find positive and like-minded people,” he says.

He says patients need to maintain their own sense of hope that they can recover and strive to reach their full capabilities, even if those aren’t quite the same as before.

“I just tell people just, no matter what, just keep telling yourself, you're gonna overcome, you're gonna overcome. You're gonna beat this, you’re gonna overcome,” he says. “And then you end up in a lot better situation. You might not get exactly what you want, but you're going to feel a lot better than you did. And I just try to let them know, just keep pushing.”

Even if doctors tell patients something they don’t want to hear, they should push forward as best as they can, he says. And they may surprise themselves.

“Numbers can be beaten, especially when people have hope and belief,” he says.