After a series of injuries, Gabe found strength, confidence and full recovery through the personalized care he received at Shriners Children's Spokane.
After a series of injuries that forced him to slow down, his care regimen became the thing that strengthened his confidence and showed just how resilient he could be.
A seemingly ordinary day became a turning point when a simple wheelie attempt went wrong. He went flying and slammed his back onto a tree stump. Like most teens, he brushed it off and kept going.
Eight months passed. He pushed through the cross-country and basketball seasons despite persistent lower back pain. Finally, a routine checkup revealed a stress fracture in his L5 vertebra. That diagnosis led him to Shriners Children’s Spokane, where he had briefly been a patient at age 3 for intoeing.
“From a mom’s perspective, knowing that right here in our community we can go to an incredibly trusted place and have my kid be loved by everyone that interacts with him … we knew we could trust Shriners Children’s,” said Leah, Gabe’s mother.
His treatment consisted of a brace he wore most of the day and a series of exercises to improve his strength. Gabe appreciated that his physical therapy team helped improve his whole body, not just the specific injury.
“They don’t just work the center of the problem – they find all the connected pieces. Like if your hip muscles are too tense, or it could be your shins or your quads are too activated … they work on all the different aspects of your injury,” said Gabe.
Midway through his rehabilitation, Gabe broke his hand while working as his baseball team’s supervisor. His care team quickly adapted his therapy plan so he could continue strengthening his back while his hand healed. “Then when I got the cast off, still with the broken back, I needed to strengthen my wrists again, so we did exercises to help with that,” he explained.
Six months later, Gabe tore his meniscus while weight training, after straining it in cross country. After every setback, his family knew returning to Shriners Children’s was the obvious choice.
“He decides to be a kid and break his hand, and I said, ‘I know exactly where we’re going to go. We’re going to go to Shriners Children’s,’” said Leah. “And then, he tears his meniscus after spraining it by stepping off a curb wrong. And again, the mom in me gets to say, ‘I know exactly where we’re going to go. We’ve got world-class care right here in our community,’” said Leah.
They don’t push you to where you break. They push you so that you can see your own power.
The strong relationships Gabe formed with his care team kept him keep coming back. They made the recovery process fun while motivating him to push as hard as he could. “They want you to feel like you’re having fun while working hard,” he said.
Some of his favorite moments included friendly pull‑up contests with his physical therapist Carey Hintze, who gave himself a 40‑pound weight to level the playing field. “Those were my favorite. It eased the mood from all the hard work we were doing,” Gabe said.
Gabe loved that when he brought new workout ideas, his team joined him. His mother noticed those moments were the exact motivation he needed to recognize his own strength. Now fully recovered from his injuries, Gabe has moved on to strength training and conditioning. When he began, he could bench 100 pounds. Today, he benches 225 and is determined to reach 315.
He said the care he received at Shriners Children’s made a transformative impact on his strength and confidence. Through every fall, fracture and unexpected detour, Gabe discovered that he is capable of whatever he sets his mind to.
“Gabe is feeling powerful again. Shriners Children’s got him to a place he wanted to be, based on the goals he had set for himself,” said Leah. “I hope my son doesn’t do anything silly again, but we know where to go if he does.”
