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Man suffering from birth defects motivates Missoula youth

Posted: Mar 31, 2011 4:26 PM by Irina Cates (KPAX News)
Updated: Apr 1, 2011 9:45 AM


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MISSOULA - A three-foot tall, 20-year-old Washington man born with severe congenital birth defects is sharing his story to not only help people with disabilities, but to encourage others as well.

Thursday morning, Gabe Murfitt came to Washington Middle School in Missoula. His message is CLEAR: Courage, Leadership, Endurance, Attitude and Respect. These five principles is what he had to learn while living with his birth defects and now he's sharing those lessons with others.

"I think probably the harder things when I was younger was the kids staring at me and just not understanding why they would do that. My mom and dad actually kind of instilled in me that the kids are not making fun of me, more they're just curious. They want to know why you look differently," says Gabe Murfitt, Motivational Speaker from Washington state.

"He talks about seeing the kids sitting by themselves in the cafeteria, and going over and sitting with them, and just saying hi to them. He talks about not making fun of people, about being respectful. His message from CLEAR is just I think really good, especially for this grade level of kids," says Paul Johnson, Washington Middle School Principal.

For an unknown reason Gabe was born without the two bones most people have in their forearm. Gabe doesn't have knee joints, so he can't straighten his legs. His thumbs don't work and he can't bend most of his fingers. He's also 45% deaf, because a bone covered up his ear canals. But when Gabe needs help, he just asks his service dog.

Gabe's mother had a normal pregnancy, so his parents didn't about his birth defect until he was born. However, the disability doesn't stop Gabe from doing what he works for like going to college and playing sports. Gabe hopes the principles he teaches in the CLEAR acronym will help others get the most out of live.

"The reason why I do it is not see those kids come up to me and give me a high 5 and say thanks for talking. I don't necessarily do it, you know to be a celebrity or anything, but just to know that I encouraged those kids," Murfitt said.

He says he can see the impact his story has on some youth, even if it is only temporary. For information of Gabe's non-profit organization CLICK HERE.

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