It all started right around the time she was going for the record. The whispers of speculation said that the pressure was getting to her. Either that or she had a mysterious injury to that powerful right arm.
The Citizen file photo
Former Jordan-Elbridge softball pitcher Colleen Ryan owns the state record for career strikeouts. Shortly after her senior season, Ryan was diagnosed with Graves' Disease, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid gland and can affect the heart. The hurler still expects to pitch at Stony Brook next year as a college freshman.
Former Jordan-Elbridge softball pitcher Colleen Ryan owns the state record for career strikeouts. Shortly after her senior season, Ryan was diagnosed with Graves' Disease, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid gland and can affect the heart. The hurler still expects to pitch at Stony Brook next year as a college freshman.
It didn't matter how many times former Jordan-Elbridge pitcher Colleen Ryan denied either possibility. Even after she broke the New York state softball strikeout record on May 9, the whispers only got louder.
In the week or so before she caught Marcellus batter Amy Sniffen looking for her 1,279th career strikeout, Ryan started to noticeably struggle. The amount of walks she was throwing in her senior season was up, but she threw 27 of them in the two games prior to facing Marcellus. All of this from the same player who walked only 26 batters in the entire 2006 season for the Eagles, while throwing 325 strikeouts.
The possibility that Ryan's struggles were the result of something mental was always laughable. How could she be caving under the pressure of something as small as a state strikeout record?
In 2006 when the Eagles made their run towards a state title, Ryan's pitching only got better as the spotlight got bigger. She fanned 20 batters in leading Jordan-Elbridge to its first Section III, Class B title in school history.
Any possible injury was ruled out as well. Her approach in warm-ups was the same during the time of the record was the same as it always was - intense, focused and just about perfect.
As it turns out, the reason why Ryan wasn't the same Ryan that had dominated the pitcher's circle for over five seasons wasn't physical or mental.
It was medical.
Soon after the season concluded, Ryan was diagnosed with Graves' Disease, which is a type of autoimmune disease that causes over-activity of the thyroid gland, causing hyperthyroidism. Left untreated, Graves' Disease can lead to heart problems and in severe cases, it can be fatal.
“I didn't know what (Graves' Disease) was,” Ryan said. “Obviously, I had no idea what even thyroid hyperactivity was. It just seemed to appear out of nowhere.”
“Early in the season, there were no symptoms of this,” said Joe Ryan, Eagles head coach and father of Colleen. “Her heart rate would get really high and it all seemed to kick in during the second half of the season.”
After she had gotten the strikeout record out of the way, Joe mentioned that he was going to give some of the younger pitchers a chance to play; that he wanted to save Colleen for the playoffs. But for the athlete who had put together 592 successful innings heading into her senior year, she only threw nine more in the final nine games of her high school career, including just 1.2 innings of work in a playoff loss to Solvay.
It was frustrating for Colleen who compiled just 99 innings in the circle this season, her lowest total since her seventh grade campaign. She finished her career with 1,285 strikeouts and the season with 173, also the lowest total since her first year on varsity.
“Usually you get a lot of adrenaline when you're pitching and I'm used to that,” Colleen said. “It's what drives me harder during games. But I was getting too much. My heart was pumping too fast, I felt dizzy and I had shortness of breath a lot. I couldn't concentrate out there at all - it was kind of scary.”
The dizziness, shortness of breath and accelerated heart rate are all symptoms of Graves' Disease, which affects only two percent of women, though usually between the ages of 20 and 40.
Though the disease rendered the 18-year-old's pitching ineffective, she had one of her best seasons at the plate. The career .474 hitter led the team in hits (33), doubles (nine), triples (two), runs (27), RBIs (30) and home runs (seven).
“We found out that with a heart rate of about 200, you can hit a ball a long way,” Joe said.
“I put everything I had towards hitting the ball and that helped,” Colleen added. “Since I was having so much trouble pitching, I just worked on my hitting more and got more into that side of the ball.”
After several blood tests and doctor's visits, Colleen was diagnosed in mid-June. There were three choices of treatment - medicine with a small chance of remission, radioactive iodine that damages thyroid cells as well as shrinks and destroys the thyroid gland to reduce hormone levels, or surgery to remove the thyroid gland. It was determined that the best course of action would be to begin radiation treatment, but even after that treatment is finished, Colleen will need to take a thyroid hormone supplement medication for the rest of her life.
“I was lucky that we found it in time after we went to a specialist,” Colleen said. “I'll be better before college and back to being normal again.”
It's to her benefit that Colleen chose to attend Stony Brook University in the fall.
“(Softball) coach (Megan Bryant) said that Colleen is lucky that she's coming to Stony Brook,” Joe said. “It's a medical university and they've got a diabetic on the team and two girls that are having surgery, so she'll fit right in. They have a specialist on staff and there's a hospital on campus, so she will be well taken care of there.”
Instead of working on her throws, Colleen will just focus on getting better this summer before classes begin in late August. The high school records, the state milestones - it's all behind her now. Her name reads in the all-time top 10 in some of the state's offensive record books, too, which the humble standout describes as “nice.”
But during the roller coaster ride that has been the last three months, Colleen knew what people were thinking. The whispers weren't that quiet.
Asked what she thought of all the speculation and questions - some more mean-spirited than others - during her struggles and she thinks for a minute. Her big, expressive brown eyes look unusually tired - from the fatigue that is also caused by the disease, but also perhaps, from having to talk about her state of mind one more time.
“At one point, I almost thought that it was all in my head, too,” Colleen said. “I didn't know what was going on. But I'm glad it was caught when it was and that I'm going to get it taken care of. People are always going to have their own opinions about everything, and that's fine. It doesn't bother me at all.”
In the week or so before she caught Marcellus batter Amy Sniffen looking for her 1,279th career strikeout, Ryan started to noticeably struggle. The amount of walks she was throwing in her senior season was up, but she threw 27 of them in the two games prior to facing Marcellus. All of this from the same player who walked only 26 batters in the entire 2006 season for the Eagles, while throwing 325 strikeouts.
The possibility that Ryan's struggles were the result of something mental was always laughable. How could she be caving under the pressure of something as small as a state strikeout record?
In 2006 when the Eagles made their run towards a state title, Ryan's pitching only got better as the spotlight got bigger. She fanned 20 batters in leading Jordan-Elbridge to its first Section III, Class B title in school history.
Any possible injury was ruled out as well. Her approach in warm-ups was the same during the time of the record was the same as it always was - intense, focused and just about perfect.
As it turns out, the reason why Ryan wasn't the same Ryan that had dominated the pitcher's circle for over five seasons wasn't physical or mental.
It was medical.
Soon after the season concluded, Ryan was diagnosed with Graves' Disease, which is a type of autoimmune disease that causes over-activity of the thyroid gland, causing hyperthyroidism. Left untreated, Graves' Disease can lead to heart problems and in severe cases, it can be fatal.
“I didn't know what (Graves' Disease) was,” Ryan said. “Obviously, I had no idea what even thyroid hyperactivity was. It just seemed to appear out of nowhere.”
“Early in the season, there were no symptoms of this,” said Joe Ryan, Eagles head coach and father of Colleen. “Her heart rate would get really high and it all seemed to kick in during the second half of the season.”
After she had gotten the strikeout record out of the way, Joe mentioned that he was going to give some of the younger pitchers a chance to play; that he wanted to save Colleen for the playoffs. But for the athlete who had put together 592 successful innings heading into her senior year, she only threw nine more in the final nine games of her high school career, including just 1.2 innings of work in a playoff loss to Solvay.
It was frustrating for Colleen who compiled just 99 innings in the circle this season, her lowest total since her seventh grade campaign. She finished her career with 1,285 strikeouts and the season with 173, also the lowest total since her first year on varsity.
“Usually you get a lot of adrenaline when you're pitching and I'm used to that,” Colleen said. “It's what drives me harder during games. But I was getting too much. My heart was pumping too fast, I felt dizzy and I had shortness of breath a lot. I couldn't concentrate out there at all - it was kind of scary.”
The dizziness, shortness of breath and accelerated heart rate are all symptoms of Graves' Disease, which affects only two percent of women, though usually between the ages of 20 and 40.
Though the disease rendered the 18-year-old's pitching ineffective, she had one of her best seasons at the plate. The career .474 hitter led the team in hits (33), doubles (nine), triples (two), runs (27), RBIs (30) and home runs (seven).
“We found out that with a heart rate of about 200, you can hit a ball a long way,” Joe said.
“I put everything I had towards hitting the ball and that helped,” Colleen added. “Since I was having so much trouble pitching, I just worked on my hitting more and got more into that side of the ball.”
After several blood tests and doctor's visits, Colleen was diagnosed in mid-June. There were three choices of treatment - medicine with a small chance of remission, radioactive iodine that damages thyroid cells as well as shrinks and destroys the thyroid gland to reduce hormone levels, or surgery to remove the thyroid gland. It was determined that the best course of action would be to begin radiation treatment, but even after that treatment is finished, Colleen will need to take a thyroid hormone supplement medication for the rest of her life.
“I was lucky that we found it in time after we went to a specialist,” Colleen said. “I'll be better before college and back to being normal again.”
It's to her benefit that Colleen chose to attend Stony Brook University in the fall.
“(Softball) coach (Megan Bryant) said that Colleen is lucky that she's coming to Stony Brook,” Joe said. “It's a medical university and they've got a diabetic on the team and two girls that are having surgery, so she'll fit right in. They have a specialist on staff and there's a hospital on campus, so she will be well taken care of there.”
Instead of working on her throws, Colleen will just focus on getting better this summer before classes begin in late August. The high school records, the state milestones - it's all behind her now. Her name reads in the all-time top 10 in some of the state's offensive record books, too, which the humble standout describes as “nice.”
But during the roller coaster ride that has been the last three months, Colleen knew what people were thinking. The whispers weren't that quiet.
Asked what she thought of all the speculation and questions - some more mean-spirited than others - during her struggles and she thinks for a minute. Her big, expressive brown eyes look unusually tired - from the fatigue that is also caused by the disease, but also perhaps, from having to talk about her state of mind one more time.
“At one point, I almost thought that it was all in my head, too,” Colleen said. “I didn't know what was going on. But I'm glad it was caught when it was and that I'm going to get it taken care of. People are always going to have their own opinions about everything, and that's fine. It doesn't bother me at all.”
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