Day 26 on Vecttor!!

• Friday, January 21, 2011 11:39 PM CST 
  
  Still doing 80 minutes in the morning and 80 minutes in the evening but I must admit…though this is very time consuming, Gabe has been an absolute ANGEL about his treatments and he is starting to do more things he has not been able to do prior to the machine!  I mentioned in a previous post that he was now able to peddle a tricycle and hot wheel, his energy level was up, he was getting good reports from school now, though we did have a bad day Thursday :-(, he could stand on one leg, hop on one foot, etc.  So my logic is…keeping testing him on things he could not do before and see if he can do them now that he is on the machine.  My next big test…the Gower’s Maneuver!!!  He has always gotten up off the floor using the Gower’s Maneuver.  He even did this in Texas before the machine and I believe even on day 5 when they tested him before we left (I will have to see the actual video they did to confirm).  So last night I was thinking about what we have not tested him on and what he could not do prior to the machine and a light bulb went off to see how he gets off of the floor now from various positions.  For those of you who may not know, the Gower’s Maneuver is a common way boys with DMD get up from a sitting position.  I will do my best to describe it in words.  They first stick their bottom in the air, their knees usually go inward almost touching and they then use their hands to walk up their legs to help support them to stand from a sitting position.  I made 5 videos of Gabe getting up from various positions and he did not use the Gower’s Maneuver one time!  I used my wife’s iPhone as it is easier to upload that way so please forgive the video quality but he is definitely getting up different and faster.  We did one side by side his twin sister Addie and Gabe beat her!  The videos can be seen at http://www.hopeforgabe.org/photosvideos.html. We have a nice camcorder but unless I am doing something wrong, it takes forever to upload video from it and her iPhone only took seconds.  We will be investing in a Flip camera here soon I believe…but I digress.  I know there are many naysayers out there but the bottom line is I am documenting things my son COULD NOT DO BEFORE DECEMBER AND HE IS DOING THEM NOW.  Chalk it up to luck, coincidence, happenstance, or whatever you would like to call it but something positive is happening to Gabe and I know it, Traci knows it, his brothers know it, his sister knows it, his Aunt Steph knows it, and most importantly, Gabe knows it!  We see the actual changes.  I have not recorded this yet and it is my next project.  Tonight his Aunt Kelli and her 4 children came into town and are with us.  Gabe loves them all but he really loves his 3 year old cousin William.  Well William was upstairs and I decided I wanted to do another test of things Gabe has NEVER done.  So I brought Gabe downstairs with William still being upstairs.  I said “Gabe, William is upstairs watching you and I want to see how fast you can get up the stairs switching feet as you go.”  He was not happy at first but when he saw William he shot up the stairs like a bullet alternating feet incredibly fast!  Traci and Kelli (Traci’s sister) could not believe what they had just seen.  It was amazing!!!!  Of course like most amateur Big Foot, Yeti, or Elvis hunters I did not have the camera rolling so that is my next project but understand that he has never ever gone up our stairs alternating feet and running up them!  He always uses two feet on a step at a time.  Again, not sure what is going on but something is happening!  My Gaberoo, as I call him, has been an angel through all of this and his siblings have been so supportive as well as all of our friends, his teachers, the school, etc. The list goes on and on!  As an example, tonight after Turner’s (my 9 year old) basketball practice John Ryan wanted to say the prayer to end practice.  As I had my head bowed, I heard the words “…and please help cure Gabe Griffin of his disease and help his muscles.”  His grandfather told me he prays for Gabe at every dinner and every night before bed.  You can only imagine how I felt…then I thought to myself as I have so often…maybe this is Gabe’s purpose and maybe this is the “WHY?”.  To make other people, no matter how young or old, realize just exactly what is important in life.  I am shocked every practice and game when I see these kids say prayers for Gabe and I feel so blessed to be part of such a great community!  Tonight it was John Ryan…tomorrow it may be Cade or Connor or Chase or Anna or Christian or Andrew or Hayden or Grant or Jake or Ryan or Zane or Brady or Drew or Lauren or Douglas and the list goes on.  The bottom line is we are fighting a battle that has never been beaten and there is no such thing as too many prayers!  This machine continues to do things that I CANNOT explain but they are all positive results.  I believe this is a direct result of many thoughts and prayers so please keep ‘em comin’!!!  Gabe’s Dad