Gabrielle Strauss

Gabrielle was born on October 21, 2007. She gained weight quickly after her birth and was in the 90th percentile for height and weight until she was nine months old. That was when her growth and development seemed to change. She wasn’t interested in crawling or standing while supported. Our family doctor sensed that something was wrong, so he sent her for x-rays. The x-rays showed signs of osteoporosis, so my family doctor referred Gabrielle to a pediatrician for follow-up. That pediatrician took the same x-rays to another doctor for a consult–that doctor felt that Gabrielle’s x-rays were normal, so we were sent on our merry way. As you can imagine, we were relieved and didn’t ask too many questions. We thought that everything was fine and normal with our daughter.

After going for routine immunizations, our family doctor felt strongly that he needed to send Gabrielle to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, Ontario for another x-ray and a second opinion. Again, the x-rays showed signs of osteoporosis. So, we began the referral process for the bone health clinic at Sick Kids, which included taking blood and urine samples. After the urine tests came back, we received a call from our family doctor indicating that something was wrong with Gabrielle’s kidneys. We were shocked. We thought she had a bone problem that could easily be solved with calcium and vitamin D.

The next day, my husband and I picked up Gabrielle’s blood work and urine tests from our family doctor and drove an hour to Sick Kids Hospital Emergency Department in Toronto. We wanted answers and we didn’t want to wait 2–3 months to be seen at the bone health clinic. It was the best thing we could have done. The doctors and staff were compassionate and ready to help us find the answers we needed. We were seen the next day in the nephrology clinic where the doctors first mentioned cystinosis. That diagnosis was confirmed on January 21 of this year.

We are so thankful to our family, friends and church for their prayers and support. We count our blessings everyday and are thankful to God for Gabrielle. She is sucha little trooper and we know that she will be up for the challenges ahead of her.

Words cannot express our gratitude to the Stack family for their hard work, passion and dedication to searching for better treatments and a cure for cystinosis. This amazing family has given all cystinosis patients hope for the future.

To read more about the Strass family's efforts to support cystinosis research, visit www.gabbieswish.com