September 2025
by Laura Travison
With the help of Team Gleaosn, Chris was able to go to the Epic Universe Park on his 49th Birthday!
When Chris was diagnosed the summer of 2022 with Bulbar ALS at 46 years old, it was a punch to the gut and took our breath away. We had no idea what journey lay ahead, as it was unknown and a complete shock as my husband had never been sick a day in his life. I am also disabled with rare neurological conditions, so he was the primary provider for our household. As is for most of us, our entire world was turned upside down the moment we heard those 3 letters – ALS.
As his case has been a rapid progression, each month, each week, we faced one loss after another, so fast we couldn’t adjust to one challenge before another one began. We were thrown into a world of uncertainty, grief and survival, liquidating all funds and our entire life savings including retirement just to keep up with the loss of income, to try alternative therapies, buy equipment and pay the bills.
Just over a year after his diagnosis Hurricane Helene hit us hard in St Pete Beach, FL and the storm surge took everything we owned…literally everything. As Chris is a true Floridian, I always call him Lt. Dan wanting to ride out the storms. Normally I would win, and we’d evacuate right before the storm. Not this time. We were not even a week from his major surgery to shift organs in order to place his PEG tube when Helene was just supposed to hit us with the outskirts. Honestly, we were both exhausted, so we stayed. We were home, terrified, taking on storm surge inside the house throughout the night and it’s a miracle we lived. We were rescued the next morning by a team of Sheriffs out of the war zone and the complete destruction that our community became overnight.
As if ALS wasn’t hard enough, we lost everything and became homeless. Out of necessity we moved to North Carolina to live with my family and a week after arriving Chris collapsed of respiratory failure and in the month long ICU stay Chris was trached, on a ventilator and oxygen, lost what was left of his ability to move his arms and hands, plus lost the ability to walk. We brought him home Christmas Eve and have slowly been learning this new normal we call our life.
During these long months with complications in and out of the Hospital, every week Chris had me put on YouTube videos of Universal building their new theme park, Epic Universe. Universal Orlando was always Chris’ happy place.
It was exciting to see this new park 10 years in the making finally coming to life. Never in a million years in Chris condition did we believe it was possible to get him there, but to keep his spirits up I applied for the Team Gleason Adventure for his 49th birthday to take Chris to Epic Universe.
Honestly when we were selected, though Chris was so excited, I was so worried about how we logistically could safely get him to the park. Steve, his wife, children and team have inspired Chris and I to keep living life and have shown us both that it is possible, No White Flags here! We had just gotten his wheelchair due to starting the process all over again being displaced from FL to NC. We had 8 weeks to make this dream possible for Chris.
Receiving this gift completely turned his attitude around and gave him HOPE. A hope we had not had in a long time since being displaced, bed-bound since Thanksgiving, and only having left the house in a stretcher in the ambulance to the Hospital.
We immediately went into beast mode, training him to build up to 8 hours in his wheelchair and get it adjusted to him.
I started my rat race to get all the portable equipment, supplies, back ups, plans, a hotel room to accommodate his equipment, a portable Hoyer lift, portable oxygen machines, many batteries and coordinate with the hotel and theme park to plan for every scenario and emergency.
I didn’t sleep much for those 8 weeks but was finally ready for go time!
As the trip became more expensive than our budget, ALS Ride for life jumped in and secured the van rental for us which we are so grateful for.
This was also our first time taking Chris anywhere in his wheelchair and in a van. It was truly a miracle to make this trip happen for Chris and has completely changed our lives from here going forward.
If he and we could pull off this trip, then anything was possible to keep living and enjoying life in this new way. We can live again!
Chris has not smiled this brightly since one year ago when literally everything was taken from us.
This trip was us both rising up out of the ashes our life began to begin living again.
He’s went into warrior mode and challenged himself every day to get to go to his happiest place in the world.
His brother Joe flew up from Tampa to drive us down while I tended to Chris the whole way.
We finally arrived late night at The Helios Grand Hotel attached to the new park so it would be easy to take him into the park and get back quickly if we had any issues.
The hotel was truly Grand!
Emily so kindly had a hospital bed awaiting us and we rested for several days before his big event going into the Epic Universe Park on his 49th Birthday.
A few days later his sister Angela came, then his brother Joe and our friend Hiedi to help and be a part of this special event.
He made it! He actually made it to the new park! And it truly was EPIC!
Epic in every sense for so many reasons.
The VIP Manager with the entire team at the hotel took excellent care of us both and made our stay extra special, even sending up gifts and a spooky birthday cake.
On Friday September 5th we entered Universals’ new world!
His smile was so bright, his eyes lit up like a big kid as he was so proud.
He fought with all he had to make it to the new park and he made it!
We started out with a Monster Makeover at Dark Universe where he was transformed into his favorite Universal Monster – Dracula – and then we rode him around to Super Mario Land and ended in Harry Potter.
Going thru the portals into the different worlds and riding him around to experience them was awesome.
The next night we were even able to make it to his favorite Halloween event
And thank God that we made it back home safely, with a new outlook on life.
Thank you, Team Gleason and ALS Ride for Life, for making this impossible dream possible at a time we truly needed hope and a reason to keep fighting the good fight.
We can now live again, in a new way.
For all of those ALS warriors, know that if we can do this trip, then anything is possible for you too.
Keep going, keep living, and keep enjoying life!
