Soon after Gabriel Uribe’s third birthday, he was diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy. Barely able to walk or talk, Gabriel suffered during the worst periods over a thousand epileptic seizures per day. Doctors told his parents that Gabriel had only a 50% chance of surviving to adulthood until he started treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Today, Gabriel is a healthy ten year-old and a proud member of Issaquah Soccer Club’s Gunners premier squad. On Tuesday, October 4th, Gabriel accompanied ISC Club President Bret Knutson and ISC Director of Coaching, Jimmy Ball, to present Children’s Hospital with a $3,500 check raised in ISC’s recent Children’s Fundraiser. Children’s Katie Fath, Event Specialist/Corporate Annual Giving, was impressed with the generosity of ISC, how fast the Club raised the money, and with Gabriel’s story of recovery.
Soon after Gabriel’s diagnosis, he was accepted into a special program for children with epilepsy at Children’s, focusing on diet and nutrition as well as speech and physical therapy. He made rapid progress but still had a long way to go when Gabriel’s parents, Mauricio and Cindy, enrolled him in several youth sports programs for exercise and rehabilitation. Mauricio even volunteered to be an assistant coach for Gabriel’s flag football and soccer teams. Physical activity helps all children build fitness and coordination and especially helps children with epilepsy build and strengthen the neurological pathways between their brains and their muscles. Unfortunately, young Gabriel spent most his time in flag football on the bench because, the head coach reasoned, it wouldn’t be fair to the other players that wanted to win to depend on a team member who tripped as often as Gabriel did. As an assistant soccer coach Mauricio learned the coaching staff at ISC had a different approach. As Issaquah Soccer Club’s Director of Coaching, Jimmy Ball, explains, “for younger players, development over winning games is very important. It helps develop well rounded players and individuals.” Given a chance to play and to improve Gabriel thrived. “It is a true miracle,” according to Gabriel’s father Mauricio, “With the assistance of the doctors and staff at Children’s, he has gone from a little boy that could barely walk and function to proudly playing with the Gunners U10 B squad this year.” Gabriel hasn’t suffered a seizure in over six years and his parents credit both Seattle Children’s Hospital and the Issaquah Soccer Club with his recovery.
Stories such as Gabriel’s deepen the bond between Children’s and ISC and strengthen ISC’s commitment to Seattle Children’s Hospital. $3,500 was raised through raffle ticket sales and a chance to win over $500 worth of sporting goods from Sports Authority, ISC’s exclusive raffle partner. “We are happy we were able to help ISC support the great work at Children’s,” said Sports Authority’s Brent Vander Mey, Community Marketing Manager-Seattle. “Fund raising efforts like this demonstrate ISC’s commitment not only to youth soccer, but to the community as a whole.” Katie Fath of Children’s thanked ISC for its “donation of $3,500 which will go to the greatest needs at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Support like this ensures that children in our region benefit from world-class medical care, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.”
