The sixth grader has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare genetic condition that causes muscles to break down over time.
At William Ziegler Elementary School in Northeast Philadelphia, those challenges have been compounded by a broken elevator that has left him climbing stairs to reach his second-floor classroom for more than a month.
"Going up and down steps, that breaks down muscles even more," said his mother, Estrellita Torres.
She said for the past 34 days, stairs have been the only way for her son to get to class. Despite his condition, Gabe makes the trip daily with the help of school staff.
Gabe says the stairs have made it hard to get to class.
His mother described the effort required each day.
"They take his wheelchair, a foldable power wheelchair, and they fold it up, and they carry it up the steps. Then they walk him up. If it takes him 20 minutes to get up there. It takes him 20 minutes. That's why I say the school has been nothing but accommodating. It's just tiring. I'm tiring," she said.
Torres said she has spent weeks asking the school district for updates on repairs, but has not received a clear timeline.
"I'm fed up. I'm fed up. This is ridiculous. It makes no sense," she said. "I'm doing my footwork, nobody wants to listen."
In an effort to draw attention to the issue, she has taken matters into her own hands, handing out flyers near the school and urging others to advocate for her son.
"I feel like they put him on the back burner. There's three weeks left of school; they're going to use, 'Oh, the part's not here.' Three weeks of school is up, let's take our sweet time," she said.
The school district has told her it is waiting for a part to fix the elevator.
After Action News started asking questions, the district said a replacement part is expected to ship on May 18 and be installed on May 22.
In a statement, the district said, "We understand the significant inconvenience and hardship this outage has created for the school community. Please be assured that the District has taken all possible steps to expedite the repair process. Unfortunately, because the motor and hydraulic pump assembly is a specialized component, it was not readily available and required manufacturing."
Until then, Gabe continues to make the difficult climb to class each day, step by step