Photo courtesy of Kelly Gailey.
Walker and Colin Gailey present Gabe with $360.
The Gailey boys painted pallets as American flags to raise money for Gabe.
For Walker Gailey, it wasn't enough to present a local boy fighting a rare muscular disease with $360 dollars. He wanted to present it on a giant check.
Walker first met Gabe Griffin in 3rd grade when they ended up in the same class at Mt Laurel Elementary. Quickly, the Griffin's and the Gailey's became friends.
Colin, Walker's 14-year-old brother who attends Chelsea High School, and Walker decided they needed to find a way to help Gabe.
Gabe's condition, Duchenne, is a rare disease that affects about 15,000 boys in America and is caused by an absence of a protein that keeps the muscles intact.
Scott Griffin, Gabe’s father, said Gabe could be in a wheelchair by the time he is 11 or 12, and his life expectancy is only about 20 years. So the Gailey boys decided to help raise money for Gabe's cause.
Colin and Walker decided to paint some donated pallets as American flags, and to sell them for $20 each to help out their friend Gabe.
“We knew he had that disease and we wanted to help him,” Walker said. “I used to want to do a lemonade stand and a stuff like that out by the road, and we just came up with the idea because Fourth of July was coming."
Together the boys, with a little help from Mom, sold 18 pallets. Colin said he would paint the red and blue colors, Walker would paint the white stripes and their mother would stencil the stars.
Both boys said it felt good to help someone else once they had presented Gabe with $360, and they hope they can continue to do things for other people. Their mother said they already had outstanding orders to paint more flags.
