INTERVIEW
IT RUNS SOMETHING like a fairy tale, or at least a well-crafted novel that is a bit of a tear-jerker. Girl is diagnosed aged five with one of the world's rarest conditions. After numerous health battles and setbacks, instead of herself to her fate and retiring to a wheelchair, with dogged determination she remains mobile. She develops a penchant for dressage and, after a succession of equines, she finds a slightly flawed but brilliant world-beater, is chosen to ride for her country and end up on the medal podium.
This is the story of para rider Gabriella (Gabby) Blake in a nutshell. A true story of triumph over adversity and determination over pain. Gabby was born with Mucolipidosis Type III (ML III), a lysosomal storage disease that few people have even heard of, let alone understand. It is one of those cruel conditions that results from two (unaware) affected gene carriers coming together and having an offspring This offspring has a 25% chance of being affected by ML III, so in theory the odds are relatively good, but they didn't work in Gabby's favour.
"All I've ever known is having Mucolipidosis
