Cherishing Their Memory by Helping Others

Bridger was born on August 11, 2001. His brother, Essex, was born on January 14, 2008. Both were born with Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (INAD), a progressive genetic disorder that mainly affects the nervous system and muscles, worsening over time. Children who suffer from INAD are healthy at birth, but begin developing symptoms of the condition by age two.

Both boys passed away from complications related to INAD, though their memories live on, and we celebrate their lives each year with the Bridger & Essex Grebe Softball Challenge. The charity softball game supports INAD research and families with children who have needs similar to those of Bridger and Essex, but who do not have the good fortune we did to be able to afford the life-changing therapy, assistance, and equipment that make such a difference.

A Message From The Grebe Family

Thank you to each of you – and everyone – who helped make this year’s 14th Annual Bridger and Essex Grebe Softball Challenge a success. We appreciate your support.

For those of you who attended, you saw that the format of the game was changed this year. We eliminated the Old Men vs. Young Guns contest and replaced it with Team Tripp vs. Team Griffin. Our hope was that the change would lead to a more competitive game. To spare the feelings of the Wolverine in our family, maybe all that needs to be said is that his team had fewer pulled muscles than the Old Men typically suffered.  Unfortunately, they also scored fewer runs. There’s always next year!

In all seriousness, our family is deeply grateful for the love and support we’ve received from family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers through the work of the Bridger and Essex Grebe Fund. There have been a number of changes and updates to this event over the last 14 years, but the one thing that has never changed has been the overwhelming and unwavering love and support we’ve received from this community. We are very blessed and very thankful.

One of the other changes this year was the location. University School, which has meant so much to our family over the years, was a gracious and generous host and we want to thank them again. Go Wildcats! 

On top of the school’s hospitality, the gesture to name the baseball field in honor of Bridger and Essex was a special, meaningful, and generous gesture, made possible by the school and very generous donors.  Words cannot express what this means to the Grebe family – and hopefully to the legacy of Bridger and Essex and their inspiration to a cause that helps people who need it and the idea of perseverance through adversity. 

The ongoing and growing generosity of our auction and raffle donors provided the most extensive offerings at the event to date and helped raise a record amount through the bids they generated. Thank you to the donors and the bidders. 

We’re still working on a final tally, but it appears that you helped raise almost $50,000 for the Bridger and Essex Grebe Fund. As always, those funds will support families battling INAD who need that support and will go towards funding for gene therapy trials focused on a cure. If you would still like to donate, you can do so here.

The fund has been able to contribute more than $400,000 to INADcure dedicated to research and the gene therapy trial. The drive to a cure is happening, and with good fortune a cure or effective treatment is just over the horizon.

For more information on the status of the trial, see One Gene One Dream – Campaign (inadcure.org)

Once again, our family remains humbled and grateful for your steadfast support for this mission. Thank you for making the 14th Annual Bridger and Essex Grebe Softball Challenge a success!

We’ll see you next year!

The Grebe Family