Gracie's Story
Gracie's Hope, Inc. is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2006 by Brian and Shannon Pridmore. It was named after their daughter, Gracie. Gracie was born on April 25, 2002 in Charlotte, N.C. She was an irritated baby who cried most of the time. At four months of age she was diagnosed “DD” or Developmentally Delayed. At twelve months she was diagnosed with PVL/CP. Within the following two years she had diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), mental retardation and more. It is possible that Gracie has other unknown debilitating disorders, so she continues to be evaluated. At the age of three, Gracie was unable to sit or crawl. When Brian and Shannon had exhausted every possible traditional therapy, they were left with the same answers so many other families are left with; there is nothing we can do. Not wanting to accept this answer they began to research non-traditional treatments. They stumbled across a therapy called hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) and decided to give it a try. In February 2005, Gracie had her first set of forty treatments. She began crawling during these treatments and slept through the night for the first time. In June 2005, she had a second set of HBO treatments. During these treatments she began walking!

How Gracie's Hope Began
When Brian and Shannon contacted their insurance company to see if HBOT was covered, they were advised that HBOT is not an approved treatment for brain debilitating disorders. Therefore, Gracie had 80 HBO treatments at the expense of her family and friends. Knowing how much Gracie had improved and knowing how much of a financial burden the treatments had been, Brain and Shannon decided to create Gracie’s Hope Inc. to raise money to provide funding for children across the country so they would have a chance to receive HBOT and other medical treatments and therapies that could possibly improve their condition.