“Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!”

– Dr. Seuss. Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

When I interviewed Gerard’s mom, Cheri, for the creation of this piece, I asked her, ” If you were to ask him now who does he want to be when he grows up, what do you think he would answer?”

Unsure if this was the type of answer I was really looking for, Cheri said, “This is going to sound like a copout, but I think he wants to be himself. He doesn’t define himself by other people. He would say he wants to be who he wants to be,”

I just thought it was perfect! Inspired by her words, the book “Oh The Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss came to mind. I had this idea of making a piece where Gerard would be portrayed climbing mountains, overcoming his hurdles, flying away from his wheelchair towards his bright future. He would go wherever he chooses to go, he would be whoever he wants to be, with wings coming out of his ears, unapologetic and unashamed.

Cheri describes Gerard as a calm, patient, easy-going boy with a self-confident attitude towards challenges who loves to draw and play with legos. “He has struggled with so much, he cut through a lot of the BS of life and he knows what he wants out of it,” said Cheryl.

Life wasn’t easy for Gerard from the get go. Gerard (and his twin sister Kineta) were “micro-preemies” which means that they were born weighing less than 1000 grams. They were born at 27 weeks gestation (3 months early). Gerard was 810 grams or 1 lb 12 oz. Many of his diagnoses are probably the result of him being a preemie. He was in the NICU for 4 months and had many, many medical interventions.

Gerard was born deaf and wears cochlear implants. He relies on sign language to communicate with family and peers. When he was about nine months, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP), specifically he has Ataxic CP (affecting balance and depth perception) with some Spasticity (stiffness) and low tone (trunk). Most kids with CP have Spastic CP which has a much more predictable development. Ataxia isn’t as predictable because some kids get frustrated with trying to learn to walk and just give up. Gerard was determined to walk and would rather fall countless times trying to walk than to crawl the same distance without falling.