2025 Parent Caregiver Award Winner: Gail Duell

Gail’s son Jeremiah is 24 years old and lives with diplegia cerebral palsy. He is wheelchair bound, incontinent, and unable to walk, stand, bathe, dress himself, make decisions or care for himself in any capacity, thus requiring her care nearly every hour of the day. Her day with Jeremiah begins at 7, and often doesn’t end until midnight. 

Gail shares that her responsibilities for Jeremiah include everything that she would do for herself in a normal day: bathing, dressing, grooming, cooking meals and taking him to his numerous doctors and therapy appointments. Household and caregiving tasks also include laundry, grocery shopping, managing finances and social outings. 

For Gail, caregiving has had a profound impact on her life due to the lack of family and financial support. She’s unable to work outside of home or afford outside help and has been very transparent about the expenses required to care for her son.

After experiencing exhaustion and burnout, Gail decided to write a book to help others in similar situations: Caregiver CPR. She also hosts a podcast, Having A Moment with Moni, that she uses to share the caregiver knowledge she’s acquired through her experiences.

Each and every day, Gail chooses to take her pain and turn it into purpose. She believes that her faith in God keeps her sane and gives her the strength to continue fighting each and every day for herself and her son. Despite all of her hardships, she readily acknowledges that if given the chance to do it all over again, she would.

Through caregiving, she has learned to face and overcome insurmountable obstacles and considers herself blessed each and every day. Despite all that Jeremiah faces, she’s quick to point out that he finds joy in everything – a lesson we can always learn from.

Congratulations, Gail! You and Jeremiah deserve everything and more.