Advocacy Archives - Page 2 of 2 - The Sweet and The Salty

As I sit here I still can’t believe the events of this past week.

For quite some time I have been following the story of an amazing little boy named Gavin. I stumbled upon his mom, Kate’s, blog Chasing Rainbows through Love That Max and was hooked from the beginning. Gavin inspired me so much with all the obstacles he overcame in miraculous ways.

Image from Chasing Rainbows

His mom’s love and dedication to him was awe inspiring to me. Through her words, her stories, her advocating, and her love for her family she taught me so much.

The week started off normally with a great story of Gavin’s visit to the dentist and then helping his mom drop off his grandfather’s wheelchair and donate it to the hospital that helped Gavin so much.

The very next day his mom put out a call for prayer, letting us all know that Gavin had stopped breathing and was in cardiac arrest.

In his mom’s style of strength and grace she shared updates on his progress, and finally shared that Gavin would be taken off of life support and his organs donated.

She shared that he would be leaving this earth and going to live in “Heaven’s House”, as his little brother Brian calls it, where he would be reunited with his twin, his sister Darcy and his other brothers and sisters who had returned to heaven before birth.

Gavin’s life touched so many people.

He was a fighter.

His mom is a fighter. His dad and his brother are fighters.

As she chronicled her daily life with him, it was full of fun times, like them dancing in the kitchen, or her love bombing him.

She went above and beyond for him, even getting the state representatives office involved when the school wouldn’t allow their beloved helper Miss Sara accompany Gavin to school. Kate stopped at nothing to help her amazing son, and in turn has inspired thousands with her love for her son.

Gavin was wheelchair bound for most of his life and then just seemingly out of nowhere started walking on his own. He was healed miraculously of a hearing impairment. He survived many many illnesses that tried to take him out in his early years of life. His life is one full of miracles.

He taught so many people so much about life and love, without ever uttering a word.

The loss of Gavin is one that is felt deeply.

His smile, his determination, his strength to overcome obstacle after obstacle touched the hearts and lives of so many.

I can’t believe he is gone from here. But he is.

He is in heaven just like his mom said, reunited with loved ones who have gone before him. Even though he is not physically here with us, he still lives on.

Gavin lives on in the hearts of so many of us by the words so lovingly written by his mom over the years of his life.

He lives on in the community that banned together and prayed furiously for this miraculous soul.

He lives on in the souls of all of us who have been inspired and touched to the very core of our being by his life, and also when he left this earth.

There was so much love and hope in both, his life and his death.

He will forever be missed and will never be forgotten.

Please join in helping Gavin to live on. Please help to keep his legacy and the lessons he taught so many continue.

Gavin passed on his mom’s birthday, of which she wrote:

“Our sweet son was officially pronounced dead at 9:53 this evening. Today was the hardest, most heart wrenching day of our lives. It was also a wonderful birthday gift to me – to know that I could birth this beautiful soul from my body on his birthday… only to usher him into Heaven on mine.”

The word strength does Kate no justice.

In the same post, she asked for others to do good in honor of Gavin, that day, the next day, or in the coming years. The outpouring of good done in honor of Gavin has been something to see. My own Champion was one of thirty kids who received a free app, Speak for Yourself, normally $200 dollars in honor of Gavin. A gift that is beyond words, in honor of a boy who changed the world, never speaking a word.

A visit to her facebook page, where she asked people to post what they’ve done, will leave you inspired.

If you have been inspired by the life of Gavin and would like a button for your site that links back to Kate’s blog, Chasing Rainbows, here is one. Please paste on the sidebar of your blog, so that when readers come to your site they too can be inspired by the life of Gavin David Leong.

A superhero who continues to live on, changing lives as he does.

Grab a Button for Gavin

To get the button for your site, see “A Superhero Lives on” on my sidebar. Choose the size of the button you want, then copy the code from the box under the button (be sure to scroll all the way down the box to get the whole code) and then copy and paste it on the sidebar of your site. When people click on it they will be taken automatically to Kate’s blog.

Let’s keep Gavin in our hearts and our memories. Let’s help him live on.

More posts in honor of Gavin can be found at Love That Max here.

“What a retard.” “She must be retarded.” “Lol, you are sooo retarded.” “How retarded.” “What a tard.” “Check this out, its so retarded.” “Eww, retard.” “I hope he doesn’t try to come over here with his retarded self.” Is this offensive? Does this make you cringe?

“Look at that chink, cracker, fag, faggot, nigger.” What about now, is this offensive? Does this make you cringe?

All of these are extremely offensive words, words that bring oppression on a specific group of people, that hurt a specific group of people, that are used to demean a specific group of people, that are used to oppress certain groups of people. All are words that shouldn’t be used. All are words that carry a heavy hate filled meaning. All are words that are fighting words, words that ruffle feathers, words that carry weight far beyond their simple syllables. These words have created deep wounds that prove that sticks and stones may break one’s bones but words will never hurt them is a complete myth.

Some of these words, although still distastefully used in certain circles, have been deemed politically incorrect, words that are frowned upon when part of daily conversation, words that children are reprimanded for saying, words that people are shunned for using. To get to that point, effort was required. People had to stand up and say please don’t use that word around me, let people know it wasn’t cool to use certain words, and teach people around them how hurtful the hateful words were.

For all of these words there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

For the word retarded, though, there are many who still don’t see it as offensive. It is a part of many of our society’s daily conversation and is considered commonplace. It is anything but that though.

It is hurtful, it is hateful, it creates wounds, and it is oppressive to a group of individuals who often have no literal or figurative voice of their own to stand up for themselves.

This Wednesday March 6^th is “Spread the Word to End the Word” day, an annual day of awareness to bring attention to the use of the hurtful word retarded and to stop people from using it person by person.

If the word retarded is a part of your vocabulary please visit this link to take a pledge to stop using it.

Words are so powerful. It is so important to choose the ones we use wisely.

(*Speaking of choosing words wisely I know that I used some very offensive words in this post. I chose them to hopefully drive home my point a little more. Please understand my heart in this.)

Photo Credit: Kt Ann

For further reading on the need for this word to stop being used, please check out the blogs below: