Friday, November 18, 2011 11:32 PM, CST
It has been a very long time since my last post but a bunch of good things have been happening! We have had many fundraisers like Grillin’ for Gabe, Birmingham Southern College softball tournament, the hot wheels video fundraiser that is still bringing in money!!! BTW it can be seen at and has been seen over 2.3 million times…wow! Not to mention all of the kids that have elected to do Gifts for Gabe in lieu of birthday presents…there are so many incredible folks in this world and so many of them are children! Another exciting note is that me and a partner wanted to figure out a way to spread awareness even further so we decided to open up an Irish Sports Pub and Grill called The Red Shamrock at the Towne of Mt. Laurel in Birmingham (it is like a Sea Side type of community without the sea). We wanted to use many aspects of this venture to spread awareness so as an example, the color red in the name comes from Gabe’s hair. We are getting very creative in spreading awareness and welcome other ideas as well. As another example, there will be dollar bills on the ceiling and actually, though we are not open yet, there is several hundred dollars up there already from folks stopping by to say hello and every person has heard about Gabe’s journey. Once a year we will throw a huge party, bring the money down from the ceiling, count it, and donate it to the Hope for Gabe foundation!!! How cool is that?! Right now there are ones, fives, tens, and even twenty dollar bills on the ceiling with notes written on them like “you go Gabe”, “good luck Gabe”, “God is with you Gabe”, “Cahaba Valley Fire Department (CVFD) 4 Gabe”, etc.!
We are going to attempt another creative way to spread awareness by utilizing the checks at the end of the meals. When folks get their ticket at the end of their meal the ticket will HOPEFULLY say total, tax, tip, and GABE with a line for donations. Our hope is people will start asking “what is the GABE line on my ticket?” That is when the server will give them a short laminated version about Gabe’s journey and the disease. No one has to donate but at least that is one more person that knows about the disease! We are uncertain about this right now as we are not sure our software will allow us to do this but we are investigating. I still think it is a cool idea! We are shooting for a December 1, 2011 open date so if you are around the area, stop by and say hello! Who knows, you may even get to go for a ride in the “Paddy Wagon” some day. Things have been great or I guess as great as can be when your child is battling a terminal disease. You have to make the best of it and we are trying our best to do just that.
As many of you know, Gabe had his annual Duchenne clinic check up recently at Children’s Hospital here at UAB. I know many folks are curious as I have received messages and text asking about the results especially since Gabe has been on VECTTOR now since December 27th and is no longer on steroids. We started weaning him off of the steroids in July with his last small dose occurring on September 22. So to recap, last year he was ONLY on steroids when we had him tested and yesterday the only thing he is doing is VECTTOR with no steroids. He does however remain on the same supplements from last year as an additional fyi so nothing has changed with his supplements. I won’t keep you in suspense any more and here are the results:
2010 2011
Hands free Could not do it 2.3 Seconds
From seated 1.6 Seconds 1.1 Seconds
30 foot run 4.0 Seconds 3.8 Seconds
Stair Climbing 1.5 Seconds 1.2 Seconds
Obviously to me these statistics speak for themselves in my opinion. The doctor was impressed but not so impressed that he would attribute it all to the VECTTOR machine. However, I did put him on the spot and I said “now if we go another year without steroids and when Gabe is tested again, if his numbers are better yet again then we will have to attribute it to the machine right?” His answer – “yes”. So doc I will hold you to it!
On an ending note, many people do incredible things for us all the time but this is a company that is stepping up again for our foundation. If you recall a while back there was a company that sent us on a “Make a Wish” type of trip to the Georgia Aquarium and it was unbelievable with a behind the scenes tour where Gabe actually got to touch and feed the animals. Well they are at it again and I would like to ask each of you to support their company.
Cheeriodicals, from even before its first day in business, has worked with the Hope For Gabe Foundation to raise awareness of Duchenne and more specifically to share Gabe's story. Gabe is prominently pictured on Cheeriodical's web site, www.cheeriodicals.com, to detail his story, his fight for a cure and of course for that perfect head of hair that makes every site visitor smile. Cheeriodicals is partnering again with our foundation as we approach the Holidays by giving back $3 from each Cheeriodical box sold between now and Christmas. Simply enter the code "H4G001" in the promo code section at checkout. Cheeriodicals make perfectly unique gifts for all occasions including: Christmas, year-end employee/client gifts, new baby, new bride, get well, thinking of you and more. Thanks to all of you for supporting the Hope For Gabe Foundation by choosing Cheeriodicals and please feel free to forward this message to your FB friends so we can exponentially grow this fundraising effort.
Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, support and most importantly thank you for the interest in Gabe’s journey! Without you we do not have HOPE!! Gabe’s Daddy
It has been a very long time since my last post but a bunch of good things have been happening! We have had many fundraisers like Grillin’ for Gabe, Birmingham Southern College softball tournament, the hot wheels video fundraiser that is still bringing in money!!! BTW it can be seen at and has been seen over 2.3 million times…wow! Not to mention all of the kids that have elected to do Gifts for Gabe in lieu of birthday presents…there are so many incredible folks in this world and so many of them are children! Another exciting note is that me and a partner wanted to figure out a way to spread awareness even further so we decided to open up an Irish Sports Pub and Grill called The Red Shamrock at the Towne of Mt. Laurel in Birmingham (it is like a Sea Side type of community without the sea). We wanted to use many aspects of this venture to spread awareness so as an example, the color red in the name comes from Gabe’s hair. We are getting very creative in spreading awareness and welcome other ideas as well. As another example, there will be dollar bills on the ceiling and actually, though we are not open yet, there is several hundred dollars up there already from folks stopping by to say hello and every person has heard about Gabe’s journey. Once a year we will throw a huge party, bring the money down from the ceiling, count it, and donate it to the Hope for Gabe foundation!!! How cool is that?! Right now there are ones, fives, tens, and even twenty dollar bills on the ceiling with notes written on them like “you go Gabe”, “good luck Gabe”, “God is with you Gabe”, “Cahaba Valley Fire Department (CVFD) 4 Gabe”, etc.!
We are going to attempt another creative way to spread awareness by utilizing the checks at the end of the meals. When folks get their ticket at the end of their meal the ticket will HOPEFULLY say total, tax, tip, and GABE with a line for donations. Our hope is people will start asking “what is the GABE line on my ticket?” That is when the server will give them a short laminated version about Gabe’s journey and the disease. No one has to donate but at least that is one more person that knows about the disease! We are uncertain about this right now as we are not sure our software will allow us to do this but we are investigating. I still think it is a cool idea! We are shooting for a December 1, 2011 open date so if you are around the area, stop by and say hello! Who knows, you may even get to go for a ride in the “Paddy Wagon” some day. Things have been great or I guess as great as can be when your child is battling a terminal disease. You have to make the best of it and we are trying our best to do just that.
As many of you know, Gabe had his annual Duchenne clinic check up recently at Children’s Hospital here at UAB. I know many folks are curious as I have received messages and text asking about the results especially since Gabe has been on VECTTOR now since December 27th and is no longer on steroids. We started weaning him off of the steroids in July with his last small dose occurring on September 22. So to recap, last year he was ONLY on steroids when we had him tested and yesterday the only thing he is doing is VECTTOR with no steroids. He does however remain on the same supplements from last year as an additional fyi so nothing has changed with his supplements. I won’t keep you in suspense any more and here are the results:
2010 2011
Hands free Could not do it 2.3 Seconds
From seated 1.6 Seconds 1.1 Seconds
30 foot run 4.0 Seconds 3.8 Seconds
Stair Climbing 1.5 Seconds 1.2 Seconds
Obviously to me these statistics speak for themselves in my opinion. The doctor was impressed but not so impressed that he would attribute it all to the VECTTOR machine. However, I did put him on the spot and I said “now if we go another year without steroids and when Gabe is tested again, if his numbers are better yet again then we will have to attribute it to the machine right?” His answer – “yes”. So doc I will hold you to it!
On an ending note, many people do incredible things for us all the time but this is a company that is stepping up again for our foundation. If you recall a while back there was a company that sent us on a “Make a Wish” type of trip to the Georgia Aquarium and it was unbelievable with a behind the scenes tour where Gabe actually got to touch and feed the animals. Well they are at it again and I would like to ask each of you to support their company.
Cheeriodicals, from even before its first day in business, has worked with the Hope For Gabe Foundation to raise awareness of Duchenne and more specifically to share Gabe's story. Gabe is prominently pictured on Cheeriodical's web site, www.cheeriodicals.com, to detail his story, his fight for a cure and of course for that perfect head of hair that makes every site visitor smile. Cheeriodicals is partnering again with our foundation as we approach the Holidays by giving back $3 from each Cheeriodical box sold between now and Christmas. Simply enter the code "H4G001" in the promo code section at checkout. Cheeriodicals make perfectly unique gifts for all occasions including: Christmas, year-end employee/client gifts, new baby, new bride, get well, thinking of you and more. Thanks to all of you for supporting the Hope For Gabe Foundation by choosing Cheeriodicals and please feel free to forward this message to your FB friends so we can exponentially grow this fundraising effort.
Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, support and most importantly thank you for the interest in Gabe’s journey! Without you we do not have HOPE!! Gabe’s Daddy
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