Meet Gabriel, a 4-year-old with an involved diagnosis: Generalized Muscle Weakness, Femoral Anteversion, Unsteady Gait, Global Development Delay, Autism, Mixed Expressive-Receptive Language Disorder. Recently his mother sent Variety KC this note:
“In his short years, Gabriel has had many obstacles in life to tackle and it seems like each one can be a little harder. Gabriel has always had muscle weakness on his right side and has continued delayed mental and physical milestones. He wasn’t able to sit up on his own until 9 months, he didn’t crawl until he was 14 months, he started standing and weight bearing around 18
months, then he took his first steps at 22 months! He is currently on his 4th pair of AFOs which have helped him tremendously with building strength to meet those goals. He’s also been in physical therapy since age of 4 months.
Gabriel loves to play and run just like everyone else, but he does wear out quickly and he requires lots of breaks. Like all things we adjust and know when he’s gone as far as he
can. He has been using this tricycle in his recent therapy sessions and we have found something he is able to do all on his own! It allows his feet to be strapped in so they were
supported and safe, he was able to use his arms to help move the bike so his legs didn’t have to do so much work.
He was happy, he was smiling, and he was riding a bike for the first time! If Gabriel were able to have a bike like this he would be able to ride with his sisters, interact with his
peers, and just ride freely and be like everyone else. As parents we just want our kids to feel included and feel like that belong. Our sweet boy deserves, in our eyes,
everything and we hope you will consider him for this amazing gift. Thank you for taking the time to learn about and read about our special boy.”
Those are magic words aren’t they? “He was happy, he was smiling, and he was riding a bike for the first time!” Variety KC partners thought so, and Gabriel got his bike! Help us to put a smile on every child’s face, donate today at www.varietykc.org/donate
Thank you!
