Gary James
“Everyday Hero” for the March/April Issue 2012
I would love to nominate Gary James for your “Everyday Hero”
My son’s name is Stryder, and he has had a lot of medical problems including Apraxia of Speech, Epilepsy, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and more. At the end of September, Stryder and I went back to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to have intensive speech therapy for close to two months. Stryder could not speak at all and he was turning 4 at the end of November. While at the Mayo, we received devastating news, time and time again, that our little Stryder was going to have lifelong battles with just about everything. While there, Gary was on a mission to give away one iPad to one special needs child in every state and Stryder was chosen for Oregon. We were staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Minnesota and would not be back in Oregon by the time he did his Oregon delivery. Did I mention that he was hand delivering them all one by one? Well, Gary didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see Stryder, so he stopped by the Ronald McDonald house to give Stryder his iPad. It was the most magical meeting and we needed it more than he will ever know. He never asked us for anything, just opened his arms and his heart and gave.
Stryder is talking pretty well now and doing so many other things that I contribute to the iPad. It’s amazing and all because one man cared so much!
Submitted by
Angela Doescher
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This post originally appeared on our March/April 2012 Magazine
