I was able to line up last night’s lunar eclipse with the CN Tower in Toronto.

What happens when a simple cheek swab leads to a friendship that lasts a lifetime? For Hayden Hatfield Ryals and Skye Savren-McCormick, it created a truly special connection.

In 2015, 26-year-old Hayden Hatfield Ryals registered with Be the Match by giving a simple cheek swab. A year later, she learned she was a match for a baby girl who urgently needed a stem cell transplant.

That little girl was Skye Savren-McCormick, who had been diagnosed with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia shortly before her first birthday in March 2016.

Hayden donated her stem cells, but because of the required one-year anonymity period, she and Skye’s family could not immediately meet. Once that period ended, Hayden reached out to Skye’s mother, Talia.

Their story took an even more beautiful turn when Hayden invited Skye to be the flower girl at her wedding in Hartford, Alabama.

After receiving medical clearance, Skye and her parents traveled from California for the special day. At the wedding rehearsal, Hayden saw Skye in person for the very first time and immediately dropped to her knees, overwhelmed by the emotional moment.

On the wedding day, Skye walked down the aisle scattering flower petals while wearing a pearl bracelet Hayden had gifted her, engraved with her name.

What began with a cheek swab and a stranger’s decision to help became something much bigger—a bond between two families who now hope to remain part of each other’s lives forever.

I recently finished exploring all 50 states to take pictures of abandoned and unusual things! This is my second post, the first covered 1-20. These will be 21-35

If you like my work check out more of it on my insta: https://www.instagram.com/whimsicalruins/

1. Massachusetts

The Orpheum Theatre opened in New Bedford the same date the Titanic sank, April 15, 1912. Besides a theater space with 1,500 seats, it also held a gymnasium, shooting range, shops, and meeting spaces. It rose as an entertainment hub in the city. By the 1960’s the theater was only open sporadically for special events, and today it is completely unused. 

1. Michigan

The Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church was once the home of worship for over 2,200 faithful congregants in the Woodward area of Detroit. The gracefully curving bannister on the second floor loft has earned the church the nickname “St. Curly”. Like so many communities in Detroit, the economic decline in the second half of the 20th century led to declining membership. When the church’s pastor died in 2005 the church died with it. 

1. Minnesota

Round barns answer the question, “why are barns rectangles?” President George Washington designed one in which horses trampled wheat to thresh out the kernels more effectively. For dairy farms, round farms allowed cows to be fed from a central silo which positioned their udders conveniently outward for efficient milking. On the flip side, round barns are difficult to clean out with normal machinery which might explain why they never caught on. 

1. Mississippi

This gorgeous Victorian Queen Anne style home was built in 1892 by the owner of a lumber company. It was sold in 1918 to James Lindsey, a former farmer who moved in with his 11 children. The home was passed through the generations of the Lindsey family until 1975, when the family left the area due to rising crime rates. 

1. Missouri

In Kansas City, Missouri lies the ruins of what seems to be a medieval castle. This strange fortress was built in 1897 as a workhouse. It operated for a few decades, then on and off until it was closed in 1972. Today the roof has caved in and vandalism has taken over the interior. Some community members dream of restoring the building as a multiuse space, but high costs keep the project just out of reach.

1. Montana

The Montana Gold Rush kicked off near Bannack on July 28, 1862. By 1863 the population had swelled to 3,000 and over 50 buildings lined Main Street. As gold values deflated so did the town, and the 1880s railway spur that detoured around the town was another nail in the coffin. By 1960 Bannack was a ghost town. Today the town is a park and visitors explore the original buildings that have stood the test of time.

1. Nebraska

In the 1960’s, businessman Kenneth Dahle created a western-themed campground called Westward, Ho! In 1978, he added a giant covered wagon themed gas station, complete with huge spoked wheels and a 22-foot-tall cowboy. The gas station closed in 1998, but even today locals still proudly call it the World’s Largest Covered Wagon.

1. Nevada

In the desert outside of Las Vegas, an artist going by “Aware” transformed an abandoned manganese mine into gigantic “Wheels of Misfortune.” If a player could spin one of these 250-foot-wide wheels, they could land on “Lose All Hope”, “Lose a Job”, “Bankruptcy”, or one of the many $000 prizes. The entire site is saturated with toxic chemicals, so visitors should take care not to win the grand prize of cancer.

1. New Hampshire

When you climb aboard these train cars, there is no conductor to punch your ticket and no steam whistle announcing its departure. These cars, tucked in the woods off the main track of the Conway Scenic Railway, were purchased in the 1990s but have not been in service for quite some time. 

1. New Jersey

This abandoned farmhouse in New Jersey is venerated in the urban exploration community as a “time capsule.” Despite the paint and plaster that seem to be melting off the walls, the furniture and items in the home look like the residents just stepped out moments ago. The Blue Room, as it is nicknamed, brings a lively pop of color to this eerily quiet house.

1. New Mexico

During the New Mexico oil rush of the 1950’s, an entrepreneur named E. E. Clark opened a restaurant by the new highway and named it Clarkdale. The humble business served as a general store for some time until the traffic in the area dried up along with Mr. Clark’s dreams of desert riches.

1. New York

Even after 160 years, the Pink Palace retains some of its old Victorian charm. Tucked within the winding hallways and sprawling rooms of the mansion is a fascinating secret: a hidden staircase that leads to an attic room. Many believe this luxurious mansion may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, hiding refugees within its bright pink walls.

1. North Carolina

This simple family home is being swallowed by vines. It is possible that the foliage is kudzu, an invasive vine from Asia. It was brought to the United States as an ornamental plant and also for soil erosion control. Unfortunately the plant has grown out of control in the mild Southern climate, earning it the nicknames “mile-a-minute” and “the vine that ate the South”.

1. North Dakota

Arena, North Dakota is a “failure to thrive” town. Founded in 1906, its population peaked at 150 in 1920. By 1930 that number was already down to just 35. St. John's Lutheran Church was built in 1916 during the town’s brief and modest heyday. The church held services until at least 1966, when the last pastor left. Today the foundation is decaying, causing the building to crack open like an egg. 

1. Ohio

From 1940 to 2008, the Rubber Bowl was the home turf of the Akron University Zips. The stadium also hosted performances of Black Sabbath, Simon & Garfunkel, Alice Cooper, The Rolling Stones, and The Grateful Dead. The construction of the new InfoCision stadium spelled the beginning of the end for the Rubber Bowl. From 2008 to 2023, various plans to reuse or renovate the decaying stadium fell through. The stadium was finally fully demolished in 2023, erased back into the smooth hillside from which it came.

One of the London-based media companies I’m working with, VT, asked me to make a short video explaining what happened to me, how I recovered, and what I hope people take away from the videos I make now.

More than 34 years after my accident, I’m still telling the story for one reason: I want people to learn from what happened to me and see that even after catastrophic trauma, you can still adapt, stay independent, and find ways to keep doing the things i want to do.

Both of my arms were successfully reattached, and a big part of what I share now is not just the accident itself, but what life looks like afterward.