TAMPA \u2014 In a tribute to his resilience and hope, the New Tampa community will soon dedicate a memorial bench honoring Gabe Hassan, the Wharton High student who passed away in February 2024 from a rare genetic disorder.<\/p>\n
At the Oct. 9 Tampa City Council meeting, council member Luis Viera presented the item that will celebrate the life of Gabe, a plaque that will be adhered to a bench at the busiest New Tampa Recreation Center playground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to honor him, because it’s something that touched a lot of people in New Tampa,\u201d Viera said, \u201cand we just want to make sure that he is remembered because he was such a special young soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heather Erickson, the city\u2019s Aquatics, Athletics and Special Facilities manager, showed a mockup of that plaque that will be displayed at the playground.<\/p>\n
It states: \u201cGabe Hassan. Beloved son, brother and Muslim. Proud Eagle Scout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erickson said the \u201chonor ties into his Eagle Scout project, which was building benches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hassan was 17 when he succumbed to Schwachman-Diamond syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that leads to bone marrow failure.<\/p>\n
He did not let the disease slow him down.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would often live in protected, protective isolation, going through medical challenges that would be traumatic for him, traumatic for his parents, traumatic for his social upbringing,\u201d Viera said. \u201cBut in spite of that, he was able to get a 4.7 GPA at Wharton High School.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few weeks before he passed, Hassan was awarded his high school diploma in a special ceremony held Jan. 23, 2024, at Johns Hopkins All Children\u2019s Hospital in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
He was surrounded by his family, and the ceremony was streamed online.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew how to light up a room,\u201d said his father, Mahmoud. \u201cHe was an amazing young man, patriotic, loved his country and was loved everywhere he went.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly thereafter, he achieved his lifelong dream of becoming an Eagle Scout, after earning more than 70 merit badges while serving with Troop 148.<\/p>\n
And he didn\u2019t only work towards his own Eagle Scout rank, he helped others.<\/p>\n
His mother Carolyn told the story of a time when Gabe, even though limited by an external fixation device used to stabilize the bones in his leg, insisted on helping another Eagle Scout with a project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was his first (external fixator),\u201d Carolyn said. \u201cI’m behind him, scared to death he\u2019s going to fall on me. He’s like, \u2018Leave me alone. I’m painting.\u2019 That was just him. He was a go-getter. He was one of the good ones. He really was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over five years, Gabe underwent seven major leg surgeries, often living in protective isolation.<\/p>\n
Carolyn said he never complained.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was definitely the definition of perseverance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The plaque will be installed in November.<\/p>\n
His family hopes it is a reminder for future generations to do your best, no matter the circumstances, and to always help others.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see his name honored on a bench and a plaque in his name means the world to us and beyond,\u201d said Mahmoud. \u201cWe don’t want his name to be forgotten, to be lost. We want his name to be remembered, to see young kids and generations sitting on that bench seeing his name, and hopefully he can inspire others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 In a tribute to his resilience and hope, the New Tampa community will soon dedicate a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3749,3748,276,3746,135,610,137,136,3747],"class_list":["post-3100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-diseases-and-disorders","tag-gabe-hassan","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-new-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-city-council","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-wharton-high"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}