North Jefferson residents had the chance to put their feet to the pedals for a very good cause last week.

The Hope For Gabe campaign rolled into Gardendale on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 7, and rolled back out early the next day. The Gardendale Civic Center housed the team for the night.

Hope For Gabe is a project to raise awareness about Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a rare disease that often kills its victims by their late teens or early 20s.

Gabe Griffin, 9, was diagnosed with DMD when he was a baby. The son of Scott and Traci Griffin of Shelby County, Gabe is the focus of Ride4Gabe after capturing the hearts of Michael Staley and Wes Bates.

Staley is the chief of staff for Congressman Spencer Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills. He met Gabe when the Griffin family visited Washington D.C. last year to lobby the FDA to approve a drug called Eteplirsen, which studies have shown slows down the effects of DMD.

“Right now, Gabe can swing a bat, hit a ball and throw a Frisbee like any other 9-year-old,” said Staley. “But when he becomes a young man, when others his age are getting bigger and stronger, Gabe will be the opposite. He will get weaker. It will start with his legs and go upward. He might not make it to age 20 if he doesn’t get help.”

Staley and Bates are toward the end of a 3,300 mile bike ride across the country; they started in Oregon on June 28 and will end in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday.

Staley said the purpose of the ride is threefold: To raise awareness about DMD, which he said most people have never heard of; to enhance Gabe Griffin’s legacy; and to raise funds for medical research.

None of the money raised goes to medical bills or Ride4Gabe; sponsors and are funding the bike ride and related expenses.

Learn more at www.ride4gabe.com.