Gabriel Stands Tall
When Sara and Dan Langlois of Neenah, Wisconsin met Gabriel at three-days-old, there was no question that he was meant to be their son. Gabriel, who was born with spina bifida, and is paralyzed from the waist down, was brought into a family where love knows no bounds.
As one of three adopted special needs children in the Langlois family, Gabriel was recently given the ability to keep up with his two sisters via his new Wheel Stander . . . courtesy of the ATI Foundation.
As a special treat . . . and thanks to the partnership the ATI Foundation has with the Milwaukee Brewers . . . Gabriel and his family stole the show this summer at Miller Park!
You can help kids like Gabriel by supporting the ATI Foundation! Click here for details: ATI Foundation.
For more information, please visit www.ATIFoundation.com
Transcript
Gabriel was three days when we met him. Gabriel was diagnosed with spina bifida in utero. He is paralyzed from the waist down. Given his personality, even at that young age, it was kind of hard to resist him. We made the decision that physical limitations or not, we thought it was meant to be, and we brought him into our family.
We have three adopted special needs kids. We did not plan on adopting special needs kids, but they have been absolutely amazing.
"How did you get into special needs? Have you always wanted to adopt special needs kids?" It's how it happened. That's what we're given. God decided we needed to raise kids that were a little different than the average kids.
If there's something we can do for our kids to help them live a, quote-end-quote, typical or normal life... we want to do that.
The ATI Foundation allowed us to acquire the mobility device that he currently has. It is a wheeled stander. It allows him to mobile, it helps strengthen his legs. By standing we're hoping that will increase his bone strength. With the stander, he would not have been able to do this, he didn't have the strength to hold himself with his legs. He would've completely kept going, but with the stander his legs are starting to get enough strength to hold himself in a position like that.
He loves to be in it. When he first saw it, he was so excited. He loves the fact that he's eye level with so many people. He can look people in the eye, where as before he was always having to look up.
I like Gabriel racing me, cause we always go in a circle and I really love that. He always rides in his stander, cause he looks like a rocket ship.
We got a phone call from ATI Foundation to attend a Brewer game. Also, that Gabriel would be invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. It was, it was the time of our lives.
Absolutely amazing, we were embraced. The players were cheering him on, the coaches were cheering him on. All of the fans were cheering him on. It was such a cool thing that just doesn't happen everyday. We are extremely appreciative of the ATI Foundation. It's really amazing when you don't have things available to you how you can figure out to function. All of sudden God opens those doors. Things just happen, and you find blessings upon blessings poured on your head. It's just incredible, and ATI Foundation has been amazing to work with.