ROCHESTER – As 5-year-old Gabe Downey walked down the steps to Mayo Clinic’s Children Center on Friday, he was greeted with the kind of reaction one would expect for a high-ranking military officer.
After all, he now holds the honorary rank of Sergeant Major Gabe Downey.
About two dozen active-duty soldiers from the U.S. Army traveled to Rochester to greet Downey, who is battling a rare form of cancer known as rhabdomyosarcoma, after hearing about Downey’s journey through a social media post. One by one, the soldiers approached Downey to offer him a fist bump or a high five as they presented him with patches they had earned from missions across the world.
“We’re very grateful ... knowing that we could try and make his Christmas a little bit better with the support of our organization, to let him know that he’s not alone in what it is that he’s going through,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Davis, who worked with Mayo to arrange the visit.
Downey was found to have cancer in April after his mother, Riley, noticed blood coming from his ear. Initially, the family thought it may have just been an infection. But after visiting the hospital, a cyst from his ear was taken for a biopsy that showed he had rhabdomyosarcoma.
The treatment, including radiation and chemotherapy, has been brutal on the 5-year-old, Riley said. At one point, he told his family he didn’t have the strength to keep fighting the disease.
“When you hear a 5-year-old tell you, ‘I don’t want to fight it, I don’t want to do this,’ that’s a little heartbreaking,” Riley said.
The visit by the soldiers was one step toward giving Gabe the strength and courage to keep fighting. After a couple of setbacks, he will find out in January how much his tumor has shrunk. By spring, he could wrap up his treatments, though he will continue to have scans until the age of 12.
