I’m so glad you found your way here! After many years of conversations, prayers and dreams, I am so excited to be launching Gladiator Tribe amongst an amazing group of women who share the same vision for serving special needs families. I am a proud “Gladiator Mama” to my wonderfully made Cecily…who just so happens to be on the autism spectrum. I remember when we got the diagnosis that I was so scared and I felt so alone. Luckily for me, as time went on I met other Gladiator Mamas and something special happened…I didn’t feel so alone anymore. However, I felt like our family was still alone. We couldn’t do the things that typical families could. So I thought, what would it be like if we created a community of families, so that we all wouldn’t feel alone? And the idea of Gladiator Tribe started.
But honestly, my biggest motivator came from my son Satchel. The first couple of years after diagnosis, so much focus was on Cecily and how to help her. Steve and I tried to do a good job to take Satchel out on dates, so that he would not feel less than or forgotten. I remember the day I found a flyer for a “Sibling Support Group” and I literally cried happy tears! Only to find when I called the organization, that they hadn’t had that group for a couple of years, because the leader had left the company, and they didn’t have funds to train someone else. So I started looking around to find some kind of sibling support group in Middle Tennessee, only to find nothing. About a month after that our family watched the movie “Wonder”. When most people watch this movie, it creates awareness as to some of the challenges we special needs families face. But when I watched the movie, all I could see was Augie’s big sister Via. She was so alone that she created a world where she was an only child. It broke me. When the movie was over, I grabbed Satchel’s face so that he had to look into my eyes, and I told him, “that will NOT be you”. And in that moment, I decided I was going to create a sibling support group so that no sibling would journey their difficult path alone.
Truly those 2 things birthed Gladiator Tribe. Then I started having conversations with my other Gladiator Mamas and another theme that we always talked about was not having fun. Life is meant to include fun. And our families deserve that! My dear friend Alison and I then started dreaming of what this could actually look like. Could it be this simple? Create community, provide support and have fun. That wasn’t rocket science. And we started fleshing out Gladiator Tribe. We would meet once a month, share a meal, then split off into a parent support group, sibling support group, and fun for our special kiddos. Then every third month would be a Family Fun Night where all families are included to have fun and support our community! Whether you are a family that has a child with special needs or not, if you have landed here, I hope you will feel inspired to support our community. You are welcome at Gladiator Tribe!
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