Gabe's Story

Our son Gabe came into this world with a quiet strong will. I use the word Quiet because the first two years of his life he was silent. Gabe could laugh and cry BUT other than that he never made a sound. Don't get me wrong he was a great baby never fussed, slept through the night, breast-fed like a champ, and was happy!! It never even hit me until it was time for him to physically move. He never rolled over or sat up on his own unless I helped him.

My mom being a nurse was worried and voiced concern. I worked on him for a month and finally got him to sit up on his own at 9 months. He sat up for another 4 months BUT never attempted to move any other way. On his first birthday I watched him learn to scoot on his bum positioning his entire body and using only his left hand to reach a balloon. I was so happy he was moving only to realize 3 months later at his first evaluation he was low toned and would need to start physical therapy.

After the first evaluation Jordan and I were shocked at what we heard and were sent on to a pediatric specialist to rule out possible genetic syndromes.

Within the first 10 minutes of the exam Dr. Sampson-Fang told me she was not worried about his lack of movement that he will get there with therapy BUT she looked right at me and said "Does Gabriel talk?" "Has he ever babbled?" It hit me like a ton of bricks my son doesn't speak! How as his mother did I not notice he never cooed or babbled. He never mimicked back an utterance. Had I been so busy not to pay attention to the milestones Gabe should have been hitting. I felt like such a failure. That is when I heard the term Apraxia for the first time.

Three months later , tubes in his ears , glasses on his face and his strong will Gabe took his first step. His voice came much later.

Gabe is now 4.5 years old and has been going to speech therapy twice a week for 2 years. He has a component of childhood speech apraxia and auditory processing disorder. Gabe physically fought to take his first step and has to fight even harder to FIND HIS VOICE. When I hear him say anything it takes my breath away because it truly is a miracle. How we all take for granted how easy it is to speak. Speech therapy with Maria has been the key to unlocking Gabe's voice with that being said its also very expensive .

Jordan and I have tried to come up with numerous ways to fund raise and that is why we are changing our blog. This coming spring we will be having an annual garage sale and we will be hosting a 5K to raise money to help with the cost of therapy and schooling. In the meantime if there is anything anyone would like to donate I will be selling items on KSL and Ebay. This blog will keep everyone updated on any new information.We feel so grateful and blessed for all the support we have received and want you all to know we love you! One day Gabe can look back and say THANK YOU !

Thanks for helping me find my voice!!

Thanks for helping me find my voice!!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Simply Amazed

Our dear friend and neighbor Lindsey Rietzsch recently wrote a book called How to Date Your Spouse. She emailed me a few weeks ago to tell me that she would like to donate a percentage of her book sales every month to Gabe's fund. Jordan and I are simply amazed by her generosity. So if you would like a good book to read and help Gabe find his voice. Check out her website www.howtodateyourspouse.com and purchase a book. Thank you!!
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Saturday, June 25, 2011

June/July Update

The garage sale ended a month ago and I think NOW I have fully recovered :) Garage sales are a ton of work!! With the help from friends/family and many donations we had a GREAT turn out. We raised 663.00 to pay for Gabe's speech camps this summer. WAHOOOO!!!! He has gone to two camps thus far and has done a wonderful job .

The first one was to the living planet aquarium and there was 5 SLP's attending and about 5-6 kids with speech and language disorders. He was shy at first but they told me he did AMAZING and used his functional speech to communicate with the others. The therapist's are truly phenomenal at their jobs . They get these kids to communicate in ways that I will never know how.

I'm so grateful to the Wasatch Speech and Language Center for all that they do. They are speech whispers(that's my word:)The second outing was to the Hogle zoo. Gabe did a great job! Tom said "Gabe talked way more than he ever has." I was so proud. Side note:Tom is Maria's husband and is also an SLP. They run the center together and he is a guru in stuttering.

I want to thank everyone who donated to Gabe's Garage Sale. It was amazing to come home and see more bags full of items to sell from my wonderful church family. I received many beautiful handmade items to sell from my aunt Linda and great aunt Micky. My momma said "she can't make anything so she'll just send a check! LOL" My mother in law's entire(10%) wardrobe of clothing that sold the most. I laugh because Julie has 5 closets of clothes and the 10% she gave me actually filled my entire garage:) She has good clothes because they were flying off the shelves. All of my in laws donated so many items . THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

I want to add a new spot in my blog listing every one's name that has given something to Gabe's fund. I want Gabe to send out thank you notes to all of the people who have helped him. It's so important to me that he realizes the sacrifice others have made to help him find his voice. SO... that being said Gabe's Race is right around the corner JULY 15. We need volunteers!! ( 25 to be exact) so if you haven't already please go to www.legacymidnightrun.com and sign up !! We are making t-shirts and will order soon(more details to come) Please know how truly grateful we our and keep praying of our little Gabe in his journey.
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