I know you don't like it, but... it felt right as I was writing. Everytime I tried to plot out the path where Ryan is negative, I kept running into dead ends...

Ah, but you have to remember that just like 2 decades ago, the side effects were worse and the life expectance was shorter... so in 2 more decades, who knows what kind of new meds there might be? Ryan could still very well end up living to be 74 and dying of old age after living a long and productive life...