The summer before he was diagnosed, Gabriel complained of severe pain in his legs. At the time, his mother Brenda didn’t think anything of it. Gabe had always been an active kid. He colored, visited the park with his Grandpa who he called “Papi”, and ran around with his friends. So a little discomfort in the legs he used so much each day didn’t seem out of the ordinary at all.
But in November of 2016, Gabriel began to get sick. The symptoms were typical of a winter cold, a sore throat, a runny nose, swollen lymph nodes. A pediatrician said nothing was out of the ordinary, but Brenda’s instincts told her something was seriously wrong. He was constantly ill and lethargic, so different from his normal happy self.
When the lumps kept getting bigger, and started to appear on Gabe’s head, Brenda asked the doctor to take a closer look. “I explained to the doctor that I could understand the lumps on his neck,” Brenda told us, “but I couldn’t understand the fact that not only were they getting bigger, he was getting them in a very unusual place.” Brenda was adamant that Gabriel’s symptoms be taken seriously. “The doctor asked me what worried me,” Brenda recalled, “I said there was something going on with my child that was being overseen.”
Blood tests were ordered that same day to give Brenda peace of mind. But they would reveal that Gabriel was suffering from T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The family rushed to the emergency room on the advice of their primary care physician, and began their uphill battle against cancer.
The life of a childhood cancer patient is often exhausting and painful. Days that were once filled with laughter and play are suddenly dominated by long, dreary hours on the road. However, despite having less and less things to smile about since he was diagnosed with the disease, Gabe’s mom has told us that the six-year-old finds something to smile about every day. In his spare time, he still colors and takes every chance he can get to go to the park with “Papi”.
It’s a kind of perseverance that runs in Gabriel’s family. For Brenda, being a single working mother of three means making sacrifices in the best of times. When one of your children has cancer, the hurdles just get that much higher. She was struggling to afford everything coming her way. Through Gabriel’s Social Worker at Lurie Children’s Hospital, she heard of Compass to Care. “Without Compass to Care’s help,” said Brenda, “I probably wouldn’t be able to take Gabe to his treatments.”
Her own personal compass throughout this difficult time has been her love for her children and family. With assistance from Compass to Care, they have been able to carry on the fight. Each trip brings them closer to the end of the long road to Gabriel’s cure, and keeps him smiling for years to come. To all of our amazing donors, Brenda has this message: “Thank you for everything that you do for families like us.”