Spectrum student Gabriel Pollard was so full of life that it’s no wonder family and friends find their homes and hearts now empty without him, a celebration of life heard on Saturday.
“It’s so quiet and there’s a great emptiness there,” said his maternal grandmother Marilyn Pollard, speaking at the celebration of life, attended by more than 200 people at Pearkes Arena in Saanich.
She described her grandson as a life force: “He just had a huge amount of energy.”
Pollard, 16, had a severe form of muscular dystrophy, diagnosed at age four. Gabriel was in a power wheelchair by Grade 5. The muscle-wasting condition primarily affects boys and progresses quickly. The average life expectancy is about 26. But Gabriel was denied even that.
He died in an accident on June 21.
He was remembered Saturday as a charismatic, funny, provocative, courageous, romantic and daring young man — but an old soul. He was also a foodie, animal lover, Lego builder, Minecraft player, and hockey and baseball fan.
Childhood and school friends told stories of how lifetime friendships came as a result of Gabriel reaching out and inviting them to his house. Over the years, they all were offered lifts on his motorized wheelchair when they were fatigued or en route to a shared destination.
Many told of how anyone who rang the doorbell in the early evening was invited for “din dins.”
“You could not help but fall in love with that face,” said Celeste Bradshaw, a counsellor. “That presence, that indomitable spirit. It’s not his physical challenges and limitations but his willingness to participate and find joy in daily living that I found so awe-inspiring.”
He had his dark days and his grumpy old man days, said family and friends, but most of his energy went into making lemonade from the lemons life served him, caring about his family members and others, and working as an ambassador, said Bradshaw. In 36 years of counselling, she said, she was “profoundly inspired” by Gabriel.
Craig Smith, executive director of Help Fill A Dream, told stories about how some of the foundation’s fundraisers might have been dull events for youth until Gabriel arrived.
Smith told of the time Gabriel brought shock and laughter into an admittedly dull charity fashion show when he hit the stage in his suit and fedora and to the backbeat of throbbing music, did a series of wheelies, spins and tricks down the runway “that would give the most experienced BMX biker pause.” It concluded with his two front wheels up in the air over the end of the ramp.
But it was a photo of Gabriel holding the fin of a dolphin during his dream trip to San Diego’s Seaworld in 2013 that is the strongest image Smith has of Gabriel. It is now used on brochures and promotional materials and on the foundation’s website.
“One picture from that trip represented everything we strive to do,” said Smith. “That image of pure joy, of not a care in the world, of ‘I can do anything’ is the dream we have for every child and family that we work with,” said Smith. “That huge smile on Gabe’s face says it all.”
“Thank you Gabe for being one of the greatest ambassadors we have ever had,” said Smith.
Uncle Marcus Pollard talked about what an inspiration his nephew was and how his legacy lives in all the people he influenced to live life to the fullest without complaint.
After sailing with the Disabled Sailing Association on June 21, Gabriel was in a hand-winch sling being carried off a Martin 16 sailboat when he was dropped onto the sailboat and slid into the ocean. His mother Carrie Pollard was on the dock.
“No mother should have to stand and watch her child die,” said Marilyn Pollard. “It’s difficult to come terms with, difficult to get past but we have to do it.”
The bar that holds the sling sailors ride in detached from the lifting device, said Doug Nutting, the sailing association’s director of operations, after the incident. Nutting called it a “freak accident” at the time, explaining the lift is “visually inspected” every day. The same equipment is used by disabled associations across North America, he said.
The B.C. Coroners Service, as well as the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, the investigative arm of the Military Police, is investigating Gabriel’s death.
“I’ve never been as sad as that terrible night when Carrie phoned me and said she was at the hospital with Gabe and it didn’t look good,” Marilyn Pollard told those gathered for the memorial.
The celebration of life included live musical performances, including a rendition of one of Gabriel’s favourite songs, I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash, a reading of Walt Whitman’s Oh Captain, My Captain and several tributes. It ended with Slim Sandy and Willa Mae performing I’ll Fly Away over a final photo montage.
Gabriel leaves behind his mother, Carrie, and father Chris Cooney, sister Ava, 13, two uncles, three grandmothers, a grandfather, his beloved cats Oscar and Beatrice, and a big community of friends and supporters.
