At just 20 years old, Gabrielle Cormier’s family fears she may be reaching the end of her battle with a mysterious neurological disease that has baffled doctors.
She first noticed signs of the illness in 2019 and was diagnosed with several different things before finally reaching her current diagnosis in April 2021.
Gabrielle has developed memory problems, mobility issues, and “snow vision” that stops her from reading.
“For those people that were confirmed to have the suspected neurological condition of unknown cause was between 18 to 36 months, so we’re at that end time there,” her stepmother Stacie Quigley Cormier said referencing the supposed cluster of cases of this disease in New Brunswick.
New Brunswick’s health minister says an epidemiological report has found no known food, behaviour or environmental exposure that could have caused the symptoms of a mystery brain syndrome.
As the disease progresses, Gabrielle’s reflexes are declining, her dementia-like symptoms are worsening, and she requires round-the-clock care.
Her family have had to make changes to their home to make it more accessible to Gabrielle now that she needs a wheelchair.
They are also preparing for a trip to the Toronto Western Hospital’s movement disorders clinic in late February
Family friend Marie-Pierre Godin organized a GoFundMe campaign in order to help the family with the rising costs of care.
“I never realized how much a thing like this could relieve so much stress,” Gabrielle’s father André-Marc Cormier said in an interview on Wednesday.
“It’s crazy how much I’m thinking if we didn’t have this, how much I would be up at night worrying how would I pay for this how would I pay for that.”
The fundraiser also contributes to pay for things Gabrielle wants to experience while she can.
Her ultimate bucket list wish is to see her favourite band, Green Day.
“COVID gets in the way of a lot of things,” her stepmother Stacie Quigley Cormier said. “She wants to go to Disney, see a Broadway play, do young adult things like get a tattoo.”
“This is where it’s emotional for me as a mom,” she said, tearing up, “because we want out children to take part in things where they have these memories.”
For the time being, Gabrielle is focused on something money can’t buy: time with her siblings, her parents and her stepmother.