After losing their children to rare cancer, Alberta parents advocate for nationwide change
CBC
A home once filled with music and laughter feels empty without Gabriel Rey.
The piano he used to play hasn't been touched since the 12-year-old Calgary boy lost his battle with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG.
"The voice, the shouting, the running around, the, 'Do your homework first before you play your gadgets'.... Those are the things that you miss. The hugs, the kisses," said Gabriel's mother, Anna.
The childhood cancer that took Gabriel's life shows up in part of the brain stem, making surgery to remove it incredibly difficult and in most cases impossible.
But the families of those who have suffered are still fighting for their kids.
The Reys added their voices to a petition asking the federal government to declare May 17 as the national day of DIPG awareness in hopes that bringing attention to the disease can one day lead to a cure.
It started with Gabriel's parents noticing his eyes drooping. He began stuttering and losing his balance, sometimes coming home from school with scraped knees.
Realizing something was wrong with their son, his parents, Anna and Marlon, took him to urgent care in June 2021.
They were immediately sent to the Alberta Children's Hospital.
The seriousness of Gabriel's condition became clear when the oncologist there brought his parents into a separate room.
"She started with, 'It's confirmed. Your son has a brain tumour called DIPG,'" Anna said.
Faced with the unimaginable, the family was told to "make memories."
"Every day you make memories with your child. So, I felt angry with what I heard because all of a sudden it's like, no hope," said Anna.
"But as a mom, you hope for something. You hold onto something."
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