Matthew Zachary: Remembering Ryan O’Donoghue – A Giant in Cancer Advocacy
Matthew Zachary, American advocate, Entertainer and Speaker, posted on LinkedIn:
“The cancer advocacy world lost a giant. Ryan O’Donoghue, Executive Director of First Descents, and I haven’t fully wrapped my head around it.
I met Ryan during the LIVESTRONG era. Our gaggle of nacent rapsacllion upstarts was just starting to sketch out what a young adult cancer movement could look like. Back then, he already carried a presence and a ridiculous talent for getting shit done without making a show of it.
Over the years, that never changed. He never became one of those people who started believing their own press. He stayed grounded, focused, and deeply human.
When he took the reins at First Descents, he didn’t just maintain a legacy—he expanded it. The guy turned a bold idea into an institution. Under his watch, First Descents became more than a retreat. It became a rite of passage for young adults facing cancer. Surfing, climbing, kayaking—not for the thrill, but for the healing. For the reminder that you’re alive and that you can still fight. That community isn’t optional. It’s survival.
First Descents changed tens of thousands of lives. That’s not hyperbole. That’s math. And it happened because of Ryan.
During my years leading Stupid Cancer, First Descents was one of our closest allies. We were sister ships. If we couldn’t help someone, we sent them to FD. And they did the same. Our programs overlapped, our missions synced, and we both understood that young adults with cancer don’t need pity. They need tools, friends, rebellion, and a space to scream into the void. Ryan got that in his bones.
His obituary reads like a checklist of leadership accolades. Notre Dame. Teach for America. A stint in the Obama Administration. Nonprofit excellence. But what it doesn’t tell you is how generous he was behind the scenes. How often he’d check in on people without an ask. How quickly he’d offer help. How much he understood the mental strain that comes with doing this work while carrying your own trauma.
Ryan’s death is brutal. For Brad Ludden, the FD founder, and his brother-in-arms. For the entire staff. For the volunteers, alumni, tributaries and every single person who ever paddled out of their comfort zone and into a life-changing moment because Ryan made it possible.
If you knew him, you already miss him. If you didn’t, now you know why so many of us are gutted.
Our world gets smaller every time we lose someone like him. And our responsibility grows. We have to hold up the mission. Keep building. Keep disrupting. Keep making space for people to feel alive, even when everything hurts.
Ryan, thank you. You mattered. You changed lives. You gave a damn. That’s the only legacy worth anything. And you owned it.
Rest well, brother. We’ll take it from here.”
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