This Scout earned the rank of Eagle in the face of a terminal illness

When Gabe Hassan wanted to get something done, there was a good chance it was going to get done.

He was like that as a Cub Scout in Tampa, Florida, when he would pepper his Cubmaster and den leaders with question after question about all the badges he could earn as a Scout.

Shortly after he moved into Scouts BSA, he attended an Eagle Scout court of honor and told anyone who would listen, “Someday, I’m going to do that.”

But Gabe was dealt an unfair hand in the game that is life.

When he was 1 year old, he was diagnosed with Shwachman–Diamond syndrome, a rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in a particular gene.

SDS is a complex, multifaceted condition. After consulting with multiple doctors from a wide variety of medical backgrounds, it was determined that Gabe’s cells were not producing enough protein for his body to grow and develop as it should.

Children like Gabe with SDS may have problems with their skeletal, digestive and immune systems. They may be short in stature due to skeletal abnormalities, and they often experience problems with bone marrow, bone formation and bone growth.

In Gabe’s case, SDS left him not only short in stature but also needing multiple surgeries on his legs to allow him to walk. He was at high risk of contracting leukemia. Doctors tested his blood regularly throughout his childhood to keep tabs on the condition.

One summer, when he was 17, his bloodwork came back abnormal for the first time.

Less than a year after that, he was gone.

In spite of that tragic ending, though, there’s so much that’s inspiring about the way Gabe lived his life, up to and including the very end.

“When he knew it was his last day, he faced it very bravely,” says his dad, Mac. “He was calm about it. He was confident. It says a lot about him, about how strong he was and how strong his faith was.

“It’s the hardest thing any human can face.”

From talking to his parents, friends and Scout leaders, one thing is clear: Though he left them way too soon, Gabe Hassan made an impact on everyone he met that will never be forgotten.

The Cub Scout years

By the time he was in fifth grade, Gabe was walking with a heavy limp.

But his mind was sharp. He was a bright, curious child, interested in the outdoors, in achieving as much as he could in both school and Scouting, and, thanks to the influence of his parents and the lessons he was learning in Scouts, in helping other people at all times.

“We are true believers in giving back to the community,” says his mom, Carolyn.

His parents remember him participating in service projects like Scouting for Food in spite of his physical limitations. It might have taken him a bit longer, but he was determined to walk from door to door just as his peers were doing.

With organized sports not an option, Gabe dove headfirst into the Cub Scout program.

“He was very curious,” says David Thompson, Gabe’s Cubmaster. “He wanted to know everything.”

Over the years, Thompson grew close to the Hassan family. Thompson says he remembers how well Gabe fit in with the rest of the pack, in part because his fellow Cub Scouts were so friendly, courteous and kind, but also because Gabe himself was so naturally outgoing and easy to get along with.

“He walked a little differently because he was so short, but nobody cared,” Thompson says. “They just waited up for him. He never got any special exceptions for anything. He didn’t want them.”

Gabe may have struggled with hiking, but he was an excellent swimmer and biker.

As he was completing the last of his Arrow of Light requirements, there was no question that Gabe would continue in Scouting. Thompson, who was also volunteering as an assistant Scoutmaster in Troop 148 in Tampa, remembers hoping Gabe would join his troop.

“I wanted him in my troop with me because I liked the kid, and I knew he could do amazing things,” he says. “I liked his energy and his attitude. He loved Scouting.”

Thompson got his wish.

The Scouts BSA years

Gabe had seven major surgeries on his legs over a five-year span.

All the while, he’d go on weekend campouts with Troop 148, attend summer camp and earn merit badge after merit badge, rank requirement after rank requirement.

Shortly after one surgery, he wanted to volunteer for a friend’s Eagle Scout service project. Carolyn had concerns that he wasn’t up for it, but Gabe would hear none of it.

“Mom, I got this,” he told her.

As he grew older and gained confidence in Scouting, he became one of the troop’s leaders. Not a loud, boisterous leader. More like a guy the Scouts could always count on to be there when they needed help.

“He was always helping other people,” says Jay Sheridan, the Scoutmaster of Troop 148 in Tampa. “All the Scouts would talk about him helping them. They’d say, ‘I remember my first campout. He didn’t have his tent set up yet, but he stopped everything and came over and helped me set up mine because he could tell I didn’t know what I was doing.’

“There was story after story like that.”

Gabe developed a love of rappelling. He and Mac attended winter camp at Flaming Arrow Scout Reservation. He immersed himself in the STEM lab during a trip to Woodruff Scout Camp.

“He liked experiencing new things,” Sheridan says.

For his Eagle Scout service project, he led a team in the construction of benches to give people a place to sit and relax in a natural outdoors classroom used by local schools.

Then, in September 2023, his mom noticed three big, scary unexplained bruises on her son. She worried that perhaps someone had hurt him. Turns out, it was worse: His platelet count had become critically low.

Eventually, he had to go to the emergency room for an infusion.

The final months

To ensure they were getting their son the best care possible, Mac and Carolyn moved Gabe and his sister to Cincinnati so Gabe could visit a specialist with a unique understanding of SDS, thanks in part to his work with a medical team from Harvard that was researching the disorder.

Gabe lived in protective isolation while undergoing his treatment, limiting his ability to have contact with his peers outside of his hospital room. Virtual meetings with his Scouts BSA troop kept his spirits up and inspired him to keep fighting. He received many get-well cards from his fellow Scouts, each of which lifted him up even more.

Eventually, though, his treatment went from curative to palliative. After all the surgeries, the platelet infusion, a bone marrow transplant and even chemotherapy, there was nothing else the doctors could do.

The Hassans had to come to grips with the idea that their son, at the age of 17, most likely was near the end.

Still, when Gabe Hassan wanted to get something done, there was a good chance it was going to get done. Gabe had two major goals left: to graduate from high school and to officially wrap up all the requirements for the rank of Eagle.

There wasn’t much time.

As Gabe grew weaker and weaker, he earned his final merit badges and rank requirements via Zoom from his hospital bed. He conducted his board of review via Zoom as well. Sheridan and the good people from the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council expedited an approval process that, as everyone who’s ever been through it knows, could have taken months.

At around noon on Jan. 23, 2024, still in his hospital bed, Gabe officially graduated from Wharton High School — with honors and a 4.7 grade point average, no less.

Later that evening, he was visited by a dozen or so youth and adults from Troop 148. They conducted a court of honor, and Gabe was officially an Eagle Scout.

“The kid was all smiles,” Thompson says. “He was so happy, and we were so happy for him.”

Troop 148 senior patrol leader Geoffrey Lowery, one of Gabe’s best friends, had the honor of reading the part of the service in which Gabe was officially recognized as an Eagle Scout.

“He absolutely through and through was the definition of an Eagle Scout,” Geoffrey says. “He was more deserving of that rank than anybody I’ve known.”

A few weeks later, Thompson and Sheridan got a text from Gabe’s parents. It was over. Gabe had died peacefully surrounded by his family.

Remembering Gabe

No one I talked to for this story tried to say that Gabe never got frustrated, never felt sad, never asked, “Why me?”

Of course he did. We all would.

“I told Gabe,” says Carolyn, “‘in life, everyone gets tested. This life is not perfect.’”

When he was down, Gabe relied on three things: his faith, his family and his fellow Scouts.

“If he ever got discouraged, he’d sit down and take a break,” says Thompson. “We’d talk. He’d rest. Then he’d get up and move on.”

On hikes, Gabe would take the lead, and his fellow Scouts would encourage him as they walked behind.

“The first year at summer camp, he was trying to tie knots, and he got frustrated because his motor skills were not great,” Sheridan says. “I sat him down at a picnic table, and I told him, ‘You aren’t leaving until these knots are tied.’ And guess what? He tied them.”

The Hassans are devout Muslims.

“He believed in the Scout Law, and he was reverent to the very end,” Mac says. “Prayer was a big part of his life.”

The Scouts from Gabe’s pack and troop came from a variety of religious backgrounds. Thompson says he remembers driving three kids home from camp one time: one Jewish, one Catholic and one Muslim, Gabe. The three of them spent much of the ride discussing the similarities and differences among their faiths.

“It was interesting to me because I thought if all of us could just talk like that, we’d be so much better off,” Thompson says.

The family wanted Gabe’s Scout friends to attend his memorial service at their mosque. When they asked what they should wear, the Hassans encouraged them to wear their Scout uniforms to fully represent that significant part of Gabe’s life and identity.

“Those were his brothers and sisters,” Carolyn says. “Scouting is part of your family. In Scouting, it’s not about ‘I,’ it’s about the community.”

The first Troop 148 meeting without Gabe was a tough one. They spent a lot of time consoling each other, trying to come to terms with how such a thing could happen. In the end, they just cherished the memories of their friend, telling stories of how Gabe was always ready and willing to help other people.

“When I first joined the troop, he was the first person to befriend me,” Geoffrey says. “Moving from another troop, it was a big adjustment, and I didn’t know anybody. But Gabe was always there. He was friendly and outgoing and easy to get along with. He was very welcoming.”

Typical Gabe, anyone who knew him would say.

On what would have been his 18^th birthday, his family hosted a blood drive in his honor. It’s what Gabe would have wanted — serving others to the very end.

“He was a great friend, a beloved member of our troop and a great Eagle Scout,” says Geoffrey. “His life was too short.”

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