Rylen Quinn Cowan, earned his angel wings on June 5th, 2017, after a short battle with Bacterial Meningitis. Despite being vaccinated, we learned his body had an immune deficiency, and at the young age of 13.5 months old, Rylen became a Hero to 5 individuals by donating his heart, liver, kidney(s), and intestine!

Rylen was always “SMILING,” so we would introduce him as “Smilin’ Rylen!” And his signs that we remember him by are anything ORANGE 🧡! Orange sunsets, sunrises, orange butterflies, and the orange that brings joy, and SMILES! Once we realized Orange was Rylen’s sign, Rylen made sure to send it to us in any form or fashion to let us know he was missing us as much as we were missing him!

It’s crazy to know that we’re actually coming up on another June 5th, which means…. Another “Angel-versary” It will be in less than 1 week, on June 5th, 2025…. EIGHT years since Rylen earned his angel wings. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday, and I can remember every detail, down to the nurses, doctors, ambulance ride, and pure panic. But then there are days when it feels like it was just so long ago, and I can truly bask in all that God has done in Rylen’s journey, Rylen’s legacy, in the Smilin’ Rylen Foundation, and the fact that God is not done yet in Rylen’s story!

There have been so many milestones for our sweet family. Meeting the heart recipient Gannon, listening to Rylen’s heart beating inside Gannon’s chest, Gannon who was adopted by his Great Aunt and taking on Rylen’s middle name, now going by Gannon Quinn, living his best HEALTHY life, almost 10 years old now!  (2025)

Another favorite of ours is the fact that Rylen’s left kidney recipient is an adult who is now 49 years old! (In 2025). I love that Rylen, only being 13.5 months old saved the life of, and is the HERO of Brian, a 49 year old! How amazing!

The right kidney recipient and intestine recipients we never heard back from, even though we wrote our letters. The right kidney recipient would have been the oldest now and in his 50’s! The liver recipient, we did meet, but Cameron only had Rylen’s liver for only 1.5 years before it went into rejection, and a new liver keeps her alive and well to this day! I love the fact that we met this sweet girl and her family, and that we too, can reach out whenever! (About 10 years old in 2025)

Organ Donation has allowed my family to grow physically by adding new family members!

It has also grown by the love and support that we have been able to give to other families…specifically those in need!

When we were in the hospital with Rylen, for those short 9 days, we were receiving services that we didn’t even know we were receiving. And when we came out of our cloud of grief, we knew that we wanted to establish a foundation in Rylen’s memory, host an annual run to raise funds and make sure to give back to families in need, like we once were… all while bringing awareness to Organ Donation.

So, less than 2 months shy of Rylen’s Angel-versary, The Smilin’ Rylen Foundation was established August 11, 2017. With our Annual runs, we have been able to give funds back to Life-Gift, Ronald McDonald House, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep-which does Remembrance Photography, and Smilin’ Rylen Parking Passes for families in the Houston Medical Center! We also give money back to Bo’s Place, a place that provides free grief groups for families, and give funds to Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital Foundation to stock a Bereavement Cart in Smilin’ Rylen’s honor in the Houston medical center for families of infant loss.

We’re proud to announce that to date, we have given back over $360,000 to families in need from The Smilin’ Rylen Foundation to various programs and organizations over the past 8 years because of all the love and support from our community, family, friends and continued prayers prayed over us!

We’ve even been blessed with a chapter written in an Organ Donation Book in 2024, Rylen on the LifeGift car now twice-2018  & 2025, and the HONOR of having Rylen as a Floragraph on the Rose Parade Float 2019/2020-sponsored by LifeGift!

Our hearts will be forever broken, and we will forever miss Rylen, but we are finding peace in our grief journey by giving back to others through the Smilin’ Rylen Foundation.

If you were to tell me that God said we will have a Foundation and do all these amazing things in Rylen’s memory, I would probably never believe you….

But God had other plans. And if anything in life, I’ve learned that you just have to TRUST in Gods plan, because He knows what He’s doing. 🧡

With that being said, I know Rylen’s story is still unfolding, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the future of The Smilin’ Rylen Foundation!

To learn more about Smilin’ Rylen or the Foundation, you can visit our website: www.smilinrylenfoundation.org