'Our turn to help': Youth football community rallies around paralyzed coach

Former Hyacks football coach paralyzed by surgery B.C.'s youth football community has raised more than $38,000 for a former coach left paralyzed by a surgery gone wrong.

British Columbia's high school football community is rallying to help a beloved former New Westminster Hyacks coach who was left paralyzed by a back surgery gone wrong.

Ryan Leslie was set to undergo a routine procedure to remove infected tissue around his spine earlier this month, but his blood pressure began to drop during the surgery. Efforts to save his life resulted in blood getting into his spinal canal, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.

"I played under him, I coached with him and when you see somebody like that who's such a good person and such a good family person and how many people he's helped, it definitely devastated all of us around here, "said Hyacks player turned coach Darnell Sikorski.

Leslie coached the New Westminster Secondary School Hyacks between 2003 and 2006. The father of two ran the Royal City Youth Football Club between 2007 and 2014.

"I met Ryan and instantly knew that he was going to be a perfect fit for what we wanted to build here because he was all about the kids, he was all about teaching life lessons," said former colleague and close friend Farhan Lalji.

"He knew all the details of the game, but at the same time, he had an ability to not overcomplicate it in terms of how he communicated it to the kids. He spoke to the game in a language the kids could understand."

After a memorable decade with the team, Leslie moved Seattle to take a job with Amazon in 2014, but current Hyacks say is his influence is still felt among players and staff.

"He remains a presence here. He remains a well-known name," Lalji said. "It's amazing he's been gone that long but everybody still knows Ryan."

Leslie visits often and was on the sidelines with when the team won the B.C. High School Football Championships in December.

According to Lalji, doctors are hopeful he will regain movement in his arms and hands after several months of rehab, but he is unlikely to walk again.

That means his family will have to pay to remodel their home to accommodate a wheelchair and purchase an accessible vehicle in addition to extensive medical bills.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up on Leslie's behalf to help cover these costs as he embarks on a long and difficult road to recovery.

"Our good friend Ryan has been there for us through many good, fun and difficult times," Will Poff, who started the fundraiser wrote on the page. "It’s our turn to help Ryan and his family however we can."

As of Tuesday afternoon, the campaign had raised more than $38,000.

"The entire football community has really rallied behind him…He never left his connection with our community," Lalji said.

Those who worked alongside Leslie and those who played under him all remember him for his dedication to the team and the profound, lasting effect he had on those around him.

"He was just such an amazing man and had such a great presence here with the club it really pushed me to want to do more with the club and volunteer my time as much as I can," said Hyacks Football Club president Jennifer Domville.

Sikorski remembers Leslie as firm, but always caring.

"Ryan was definitely loving and caring, but he was also demanding—never demeaning—but he wanted to make sure that he pushed you, developed you and tried to get the best out of you that he could," he said.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Shannon Paterson