Help Gabriel attend Academia Stella Maris

For those of you who know Gabriel, you will know that he had a very rough start to life. Being born at 25 weeks gestation and weighing only 1 pound, 2 ounces, his odds of survival were stacked against him. His stay in the NICU was a constant fight but with it came many celebrations as well and finally a victory...after 136 days, Gabriel came home to us!

When he was 3.5 years old, he was given a diagnosis of ADHD, anxiety and intellectual disability. His psychologist drew us a scale and “predicted” based on statistics, that when he is 20 years old, he would have the developmental ability of a 9 year old boy. We always knew in our hearts that his diagnosis of intellectual disability was incorrect and we anticipated a diagnosis of him being on the autism spectrum.

In 2017, we started a fundraiser for Gabe to have a service dog. After raising funds, the company decided Gabe no longer qualified because he was “too distracted and fidgety” and “he showed no interest in the dog”. All funds raised went towards other children and adults on thewaiting  list for a service dog. 

Today, at 11 years old and with the help of Valoris, Gabriel will be receiving a full assessment and everyone involved is 110% certain that he will receive an autism diagnosis. This means that he hasn’t been receiving the right support from us and his teachers.

Throughout the past 2 years, Gabriel has significantly regressed. Over the past year and even more so the past 6 months, we started to see his spark fade. Everyone who knows Gabriel, will know that he is a happy, outgoing, funny kid who always has a twinkle in his eye. He loves to sing, build lego, play with his dogs and show an infinite amount of affection.

Due to my ICU stay in January 2020, my health and now the Covid pandemic, both Brandon and Gabriel have been remote learning. We LOVE having the boys at home with us however, as everyone will know, the social aspect can take its toll.

We saw a DRASTIC change in Gabriel’s mental health this past September. The lack of support from his school, the challenging work being sent home (to no fault of anyone...this pandemic is sucking the lives out of our teachers). He went from LOVING school, to breaking lego sets and having behaviours that would last all day as soon as we pulled out his schoolwork. In October, we stopped making him complete school work because it wasn’t worth the effect it was having on his health. By January, we made the decision to withdraw him from the school system completely and homeschool him...something we never thought we would do in a million years but once I sent off the letter, the relief we felt was immense.

This is when we discovered Academia Stella Maris. A private, Catholic school located only 5 minutes away from our house which we had NO idea existed.

After many discussions with the Principal, we were relieved and thrilled to learn that they would support Gabe and his learning needs. In fact, they decided to introduce virtual learning with him. Gabriel loves popping online for his 6 weekly subjects and saying hi to all the children. He loves engaging with them and being stimulated but most of all, he loves the schedule and the routine. After his very FIRST day of class, he came up to me and said “I love my life”. This....coming from a child who in days prior to this had been wandering the house experiencing situational “depression” as per his paediatrician and significant lack of motivation. The staff at ASM have already gone above and beyond for Gabriel and I know his experience would be even more enriching with in class learning. 

We would love to send Gabriel to this school IN PERSON in the fall either full time or part time. Tuition fees for the year, although less than many private schools, are still expensive coming in at $7000 and there are less than a handful of spots available.  Let’s face it, who has $7000 kicking around these days? 

We would feel safe sending him in person despite my health and despite the pandemic. They average approximately 45 students in the school and not all students attend at once. Masks are worn when moving around the classroom and outdoors and desks are spaced 2 metres apart.


Unfortunately, special needs children are some of the children suffering the most during this pandemic. They are the ones who need the most support yet are receiving the least amount of support. This was made clear to us this year. We fault no one. Not the teachers. Principals. School boards. No one or nothing but covid and the derailment it has caused for everyone. 

Gabriel, as we are learning, will not be accommodated in the regular school system. He is just too sweet and innocent, does not have physical behaviours and cannot advocate for himself therefore, he takes the back burner...something no child with special needs deserves.


If you have made it this far....you are wonderful. We feel like we have exhausted so many educational resources with Gabriel. Now, we have found an amazing school that has done SO much more him in 5 short weeks than the traditional school system has. We are therefore swallowing our pride and doing a very, very difficult thing....we are asking for help so we can send Gabe to a school where he will be accommodated, where he will thrive and where he can feel accepted for who he is.


If you can’t donate, please share! This year has been nothing short of trials and tribulations but now with the right support, we see that the future can and WILL be bright for Gabriel! We cannot let him loose that support or the spark it has rekindled in his life!


Thank you and much love,

The Amador Family