Our little angel, Gabbie, was born on October 21, 2007. It wasn’t until January 2009 when she was 15 months old that she was diagnosed with Cystinosis. When Gabbie still wasn’t crawling at 10 months our family doctor sent her for x-rays. Sure enough, the x-rays showed that she had rickets. When further tests were done, things went from bad to worse and we were told that Gabbie had a kidney problem. We were then referred to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto and that is where we first heard about Cystinosis. Our life changed in an instant.
Gabbie is our source of inspiration and she puts a smile on our face everyday. She loves bath time, cheese, pulling her socks off and playing with her mommy and daddy’s BlackBerry. She hates needles, IV’s and cries every time she has to take her around the clock cocktail of medicines. She takes medicine every 6 hours day and night and will ultimately need hourly eye drops to prevent blindness. It’s a lot for anyone to take, let alone a little girl who isn’t even 2.
The good news is that there is hope for Gabbie. There is research being done on Cystinosis around the world lead by the Cystinosis Research Foundation (Natalieswish.com) and progress is being made. 100% of your financial support will help change Gabbie’s life and the lives of other children who suffer from Cystinosis.