WEST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) — Ryan Lasko, a minor league prospect with the Athletics who was paralyzed in an outfield collision more than two months ago, has been released from an in-patient rehabilitation hospital and will continue his recovery from home.
The 24-year-old Lasko was released Wednesday exactly two months after arriving at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in his home state of New Jersey, about 35 miles from where he attended college at Rutgers and became a second-round draft pick by the A's in 2023. Staff members at the facility celebrated his departure with a “clap out” farewell ceremony as he exited the building's main entrance.
Lasko suffered the spinal cord injury in a collision with a teammate June 30 that left him paralyzed from the chest down, with both arms affected, too. His dominant right arm — the one he uses to throw and hit — is weaker and will take more time to strengthen. His legs and feet have begun to regain some feeling and tingling sensations.
He told The Associated Press this week he can't predict how the next year will go. For now, he is focusing on the present and “reworking my brain to just wait, there's nothing else I can do now, I have to wait.”
Going home is a major milestone. He said he's excited for a home-cooked meal and to follow through on offseason travel plans with girlfriend Alli Graff despite the additional challenges.
“I've kind of stopped trying to look that far ahead because they keep telling me it's two months, this is only the beginning still, but it feels like it's been forever,” Lasko told the AP. “It's gone by quick, but it's also been the longest two months of my life. They keep telling me that it's only the beginning so that's where I'm trying to learn to have patience, because I expected it would happen overnight and that's really not how it works whatsoever. But I'm learning, slowly, it's a very slow process with everything.”
Lasko fractured the C6 and C7 vertebrae in his neck during a frightening moment as he and Double-A Midland teammate Devin Taylor ran into each other in a game at Frisco, Texas, both attempting to make a play on a ball to the gap.
Lasko was carted off the field and taken to a nearby hospital for immediate spinal decompression and stabilization surgery.
His doctors and physical and occupational therapists are encouraged by his progress and optimistic he could make a full recovery and walk again in time.
“It’s been a long road,” Lasko’s mother, Patti, said while moving some of his belongings into her car with Graff outside the facility. She was in the stands for the game when he was hurt.
“The two of them work as a team. I feel like it’s a new beginning.”
He will initially return to his hometown of Jackson, New Jersey, and then live in a hotel near the Kessler facility for approximately two months as he continues to make strides.
Lasko counts each of the “big wins” along the way, like being able just to go outside again.
“I don't know what the next step is, so that's kind of scary. There's a lot more unknown,” he said. “The first day I got here they asked me what my goal was and I said to be as independent as possible. I've gotten to that point, I've checked a lot of boxes. Everything that I said I couldn't do, I can do now — simple stuff like opening my water bottle that you take for granted. ... There's a lot of small things that I took for granted that I couldn't do that I can do somewhat now again.”
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Caregivers clap out Ryan Lasko, a minor league prospect with the Athletics who was paralyzed in an outfield collision more than two months ago, upon his discharge from Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J., Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Nicole Saphier, President Donald Trump's third nominee to serve as surgeon general, appeared before lawmakers at her confirmation hearing Wednesday in the latest attempt to fill the post known as the nation's doctor.
Saphier, a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor, is Trump's newest pick after entrepreneur and wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means saw her path forward stall in the Senate over her background and vaccine views. Trump withdrew his first nominee, Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, after questions arose about her academic credentials. The position has been vacant throughout Trump's second term.
Saphier will face questions from the Senate health committee for a position that carries limited policymaking power but a loud megaphone as the nation's top communicator with Americans on public health issues.
While senators may scrutinize her credentials and background, Saphier will also be in the difficult position of navigating Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s more contentious policies, including his efforts to scale back vaccine guidance at a time when the U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles in decades. Lawmakers of both parties have criticized Kennedy's stances and are likely to grill Saphier over whether she'll more fiercely advocate vaccination if confirmed.
At the start of the Senate health committee hearing, chair Sen. Bill Cassidy noted the “serious health issues” facing the country, highlighting the measles deaths.
“That is going to be a terrible legacy for this administration,” he said, telling Saphier and other nominees appearing alongside her at the hearing that he hoped they would restore the public’s confidence in public health.
Cassidy, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in his Republican primary earlier this year, then criticized what he called the administration's “irresponsible” health policy leadership.
Saphier is director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, according to her profile on the New York-based institution’s website. She has a doctor of medicine degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados along with fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, the profile said.
Like Means, who is a close Kennedy ally, Saphier has questioned whether every child needs to get the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, a longtime recommendation that the Trump administration has been trying to weaken. Saphier has, however, disagreed with Trump and Kennedy on some issues, telling The Associated Press last fall that Trump's cautions to pregnant women who take Tylenol were oversimplistic and “patronizing.”
Her latest ethics filing, dated Sept. 7, shows holdings with various healthcare and insurance firms, as well as processed food companies, like Coca-Cola, Yum Brands, the Hershey Co. and cigarette maker Philip Morris.
Before entering politics and throughout his tenure at the health department, Kennedy has criticized big pharmaceutical companies and insurance firms for alleged corruption and decried ultraprocessed foods as contributing to a nationwide chronic disease crisis.
Additionally, Saphier owns DropRx, a firm that produces controversial, unregulated tinctures — concentrated liquid extracts promoting focus and calm — that contain ingredients, including kava kava root, described by the FDA as potentially causing severe liver injury.
Her filing says she will resign from her position with DropRx and Empower MD LLC, which owns DropRx, if she is confirmed.
She states in the document that she would partially or fully divest from holdings that would present a conflict to serving as surgeon general.
Also facing lawmakers' questions Wednesday is Chris Klomp, chief counselor of the Health and Human Services Department, who has been nominated to serve as Kennedy's second-in-command. Also at the hearing will be Timothy Westlake, chief of staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, who is seeking confirmation to be assistant secretary for mental health and substance use.
The U.S. Capitol is seen from the Washington Monument, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
