Brielle Money’s Incredible Health Update: Father Says She ‘Started Moving’

Ryan Money, Brielle Money father

Instagram Ryan Money and his eldest daughter, Brielle Money.

Brielle Money, daughter of former Bachelor star Michelle Money, who previously competed for Brad Womack’s heart on Season 15 of ABC’s reality dating competition series, was only 6 years old when her mother first appeared on the franchise.

Brielle’s father is Michelle Money’s ex-husband Ryan Money, who’s been standing by the former reality star’s side after their daughter’s tragic skateboarding accident left her on life support. Despite their divorce, Michelle and Money have continued to get along and successfully co-parent Brielle. While Brielle was in intensive care, because of coronavirus, they had to switch off being inside the hospital with their 15-year-old daughter in intervals

And on April 9, they were able to finally share a positive update on their daughter’s health, as she is now almost off her IV treatment, and has started to move.

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Update: April 9th 11am SO MUCH PROGRESS!!! I do not say this flippantly, your prayers are being heard and felt. Brielle is doing so well. She is off almost all of her IV medications. She is still on the Dilaudid but they are trying to get her off of that today. They will switch to giving her morphine through a feeding tube. The nurse said that it is a 20 day weaning process on morphine to get her off of the pain, sedation and paralytic medicines. Brielle started moving and will raise her eyebrows when 'yelled' at or pinched. The medical staff is asking her to squeeze their fingers or move her toes and she will do it most of the time. Her left side is definitely more responsive than her right side. She moves her left hand a lot (video) and is getting some expressions in her face. – The sensor is out of her head!!!! So happy about that. TODAY – Brielle is getting an MRI and CT scan around noon. She might not need the CT scan, they are checking with Trauma to see. Here is some other big news, depending upon how early we get this MRI done and how much sedation/paralytic they have to give her to hold still, she could potentially get extubated today (where they take that breathing tube out of her throat). That would be such a big thing for Brielle, I know she hates that breathing tube. So please keep her in your thoughts that her MRI and CT scan will go well and that they will be able to take that breathing tube out. If the MRI comes back good then they will be able to take the neck brace off too!!!!!! LET'S GO!!! Brielle, we are so proud of you! For her to start moving made us all cry…

A post shared by RyanMoney (@rcmoney) on Apr 9, 2020 at 9:54am PDT

Money wrote, “Brielle is doing so well. She is off almost all of her IV medications. She is still on the Dilaudid but they are trying to get her off of that today. They will switch to giving her morphine through a feeding tube. The nurse said that it is a 20-day weaning process on morphine to get her off of the pain, sedation and paralytic medicines. Brielle started moving and will raise her eyebrows when ‘yelled’ at or pinched.”

While many people know about Brielle’s mother Michelle, her father Ryan is less known as he was never a reality TV star. Here’s what you need to know about Brielle’s father:

1. Ryan Money Is Married to Wife Ashley Money & They Have Three Children Together

Brielle is Ryan’s eldest child, and after marrying Ashley Money, he’s become the father of three more children; two daughters and a son.

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Loving daddy ❤️❤️

A post shared by Ashley Money (@ashdmoney) on Aug 24, 2015 at 8:26pm PDT

Ryan and Ashley included Brielle in their family trips, and she appears to shared a close relationship with her young half-siblings. Following the news of Brielle’s accident, Ashley wrote on Instagram, “We can’t wait for Brie to wake up and see how much she is loved and cared for. We feel your thoughts and prayers and I’m sure Brie does too. She is a girl full strength, and I can’t wait for my little at-home bestie to come home. Please continue to pray for a full recovery for Brie and pray for Michelle, whose mommy heart is absolutely aching, and pray for Ry.”

On April 1, Ashley added, “Really missing our Brie today. The kids can’t wait for their hugs! Even the grem is asking. LOVE YOU BRIE! ”


2. Brielle’s Father Works & Lives Nearby Michelle Money In Salt Lake City

Ryan Money

Ryan Money, Brielle Money’s father.

According to Money’s LinkedIn account, he remained living near Salt Lake City following his divorce from Michelle Money and he works as a Vice President of Business Development.

In a since-deleted person blog, he wrote, “My first real job was as a bagger at Reams Grocery Store. Before that job, I had spent many hours working at my Grandpa’s business (Peak Dist.). I graduated with a business education from Westminster College. While going to school I started a painting business, worked for HP and became a Founding Partner at Juno Partners, I am the managing partner of a www.LoveSac.com franchise in Park City, UT. Now I am working with Hire Vue, easily one of the most exciting technologies to come out of Web 2.0.”


3. Due To Coronavirus, Only One Parent Was Allowed To Be By Brielle’s Side In The Hospital


Michelle Money described on Instagram that she couldn’t imagine leaving her daughter’s side while she remained in a coma, but knew that Brielle’s father, Ryan Money, also needed to spend with her in the hospital.

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Update: April 4th at 5 pm MST I guess it's important to share the good and the bad. We were really hoping that we would be able to get Brielle an MRI on Sunday (tomorrow). This MRI is to check the ligaments in her neck and make sure that there is no damage to them. The reason why this is important is that if they are damaged then her neck needs to be immobilized. They do this by putting on a pretty bulky neck brace. Without the MRI though they will not know if her neck is okay and by default when she starts to wake up they will have to have her neck in a brace. She will most likely not like the brace. When she wakes up they will eventually do X-rays in extension to see if her ligaments are okay before they would take the neck brace off. Since I came here 21 hours ago her pressure number has been all over the place, which is not good. They have tried to take her off of Propofol but she hates it when they do that and her pressure number shoots up. They do not want her to get Propofol Infusion Syndrom (toxicity). They do labs every 2 and 4 hours to test for this. If she starts to get this they will just switch her to Pentabarbital. We have just not made any progress with her pressure numbers being low and staying low in the last 48 hours. – I have included a pic of the neck brace, Picture of the doctors and nurses discussing what to do, pic of the nurses moving her to her side. I can't say thanks enough to all the thoughts, prayers and actions of those around us. We had a group of friends that brought in a truck full of food, drinks (@monsterenergy) and chip @chipcookiesco . I thought to myself no way they can eat all of this food. Well, it's GONE and it's only 4 hours after they got it. They were soooooo appreciative and hence when you take care of the people who are taking care of our daughter we cannot thank you enough. Also, we received a tender mercy today John A McCune spoke about his son's longboarding accident. Obviously I was in tears listening to him talk about his experience with his son and his Supreme Being. Love you all and thanks for the prayers! “Brie wants to wake up but her body is not cooperating”

A post shared by RyanMoney (@rcmoney) on Apr 4, 2020 at 4:59pm PDT

Ryan shared a detailed update on his daughter’s status via Instagram on April 4, writing: “We were really hoping that we would be able to get Brielle an MRI on Sunday (tomorrow). This MRI is to check the ligaments in her neck and make sure that there is no damage to them. The reason why this is important is that if they are damaged then her neck needs to be immobilized. They do this by putting on a pretty bulky neck brace. Without the MRI though they will not know if her neck is okay and by default when she starts to wake up they will have to have her neck in a brace,” he wrote.


4. Ryan & His Wife Banded Together With Michelle & Her Boyfriend Mike Weir While Brielle Fought For Her Life

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I’m not sure where to even begin. The outpouring of love and support for my beautiful Brielle is overwhelming. Our family has been in a constant state of gratitude and humility for the messages and flowers and food and words of hope from people we know and people we have never met. Thank you is not enough. I am forever grateful for all of you! It has been a pretty good day. Brielle is right on track with what the doctors expected. I made it back to the hospital this evening after getting some much needed sleep and regrouping at home. After the latest updates on the coronavirus, Ryan and I have decided that we need to err on the side of caution. Every time we leave the hospital we run the risk of becoming infected and bringing it into the PICU. The worst thing that could happen is for us to start feeling sick and not be able to be here when Brielle wakes up. Not worth risking. So I am going to stay at the hospital until she does. Most likely on Saturday or Sunday. Send prayers to Ryan because I know this is going to be so difficult to not see her, but it’s the right move. As I sit here next to Brielle tonight I am filled with hope and love and support. I know all of your prayers have made the difference. Thank you so much. Every. Single. One of you. Huge thank you to the nurses and doctors at Primary Childrens hospital! You are all hero’s!! Thank you to our neighbors, friends and family who have done their best to support us during this important time of social distancing! Thank you to my X husband @rcmoney for being an incredible support for me and of course for Brielle. Very grateful to have you as her father! And to his wife @ashdmoney for being a rock for all of us! She is super woman! High five on the awesome co-parenting!! And to the love of my life @mweirsy for being my constant grounding. I could not do this without you. To @lili_w2000 and @elle_w97 for being the best big sisters to Brielle and incredible support for me! And my amazing mom @gr8kidsrus for being so strong and helping me get thru each hour. We are all going to get thru this together and become stronger for it! Hold your kids extra tight tonight for me! #prayforbrie

A post shared by Michelle Money (@michellemoney) on Mar 31, 2020 at 11:26pm PDT


On April 1, Michelle Money shared on Instagram how grateful she was for the incredible amount of love and support she’s received during this unfortunate time. In addition to thanking the true “hero” doctors and nurses working through the coronavirus pandemic to help her daughter, she thanked her friends and family, including Ryan and Ashley.

She wrote, “Thank you to my X husband [Ryan] for being an incredible support for me and of course for Brielle. Very grateful to have you as her father! And to his wife [Ashley Money] for being a rock for all of us! She is super woman! High five on the awesome co-parenting!!”

Money also thanked her boyfriend, Mike Weir, his children, and her mother. “And to the love of my life [Mike] for being my constant grounding. I could not do this without you. To @lili_w2000 and @elle_w97 for being the best big sisters to Brielle and incredible support for me! And my amazing mom [Margie Cartwright] for being so strong and helping me get thru each hour.”


5. Ryan Money Is An Avid Cyclist

When Ryan isn’t sharing fun meme videos on Instagram or pictures of his children, he’s sharing photos from his adventurous bike rides. In 2015, Ryan had a tough accident in which he needed to head to the hospital to treat his injuries.

Money has since fully recuperated and continues to remain active, racing and hitting Utah’s biking trails in his free time.

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