Who is Michel Varisco Gleason? Steve Gleason’s Wife Bio, Wiki, Age, Daughter, Art, Height, Net Worth, Twitter and Instagram
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Michel Varisco Gleason Bio – Michel Varisco Gleason Wiki
Michel Varisco Gleason born Michel Rae Varisco is the wife of Stephen Michael Gleason a former professional American football player who played as a safety with the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He was originally signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2000 and he played for the Saints through the 2007 season. In 2008 as a free agent, he retired from the NFL after eight seasons. He is majorly known for his blocked punt in a 2006 game that became a symbol of recovery in New Orleans in the team’s first home game after Hurricane Katrina.
He revealed that he was battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 2011. His experiences while living with the disease were taken on video over the course of a five-year period and featured in the 2016 documentary Gleason. His diagnosis sent shockwaves throughout the Crescent City. However, the greatest impact was felt more profoundly by his wife, Michel Varisco Gleason. Years following the diagnosis were trying for her and her husband alike. So they began Team Gleason, an internationally renowned non-profit, Team Gleason was founded after herself and her husband realized that the strength of their support system could be used to benefit individuals with ALS around the world. It quickly became clear that they were poised to redefine the way society approached ALS for good.
They have since spearheaded numerous initiatives, increasing access to cutting-edge ALS technology while promoting worldwide awareness of the effects of the disease on patients and caretakers alike. Efforts have even led to what is now considered the largest collaborative ALS research project the world has seen to date. But Team Gleason wasn’t the only way that she found purpose through tragedy. She discovered previously unrealized artistic talents.
Armed with just an old sketch pad and a few pencils, she began drawing during one of her husband’s surgeries. It was then that she realized how art provided an invaluable opportunity to relish a sense of peace that had so long been out of reach. And since that revelation, she has used her works – along with Team Gleason – to remind the world of an invaluable lesson that reflects not only her own experiences but those of New Orleans as a whole: “There’s always a way to create beauty out of something tragic.”
Michel Varisco Gleason Age
She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in the US. Her exact date of birth is not known.
Michel Varisco Gleason Husband
She is married to her husband Steve Gleason. The couple has been married since the year 2008 to date.
Michel Varisco Gleason Children
Together with her husband, they have a son called Rivers Gleason and a daughter named Gray Gleason. Six weeks after receiving a diagnosis of ALS, the couple discovered they were pregnant with their first child.
Michel Varisco Gleason Nationality
She is of American nationality.
Michel Varisco Gleason Husband’s Award
Her husband was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday 15 January 2020, for his work with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease he was diagnosed with in 2011.
In receiving the award, he joined previous athletes who’ve been honoured, including baseball Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson; boxer Joe Louis; track star Jesse Owens; and golfers Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
“Talk about feeling undeserving!” Gleason, said in a statement. “The list of past winners is filled with enlightened and powerful giants of humanity. It’s ridiculously overwhelming. I am honoured and accept the Congressional Gold Medal for all the families who have been diagnosed with ALS, as well as anyone struggling to overcome life’s inevitable adversities.”
The medal is awarded at a ceremony in Washington. Other recipients of the award since its inception in 1776 include Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Pope John Paul II and the Navajo Code Talkers, congressional records show.
Michel Varisco Gleason Refuge in Art
As depicted in the documentary movie “Gleason,” she absorbed some of the stress of her husband’s arduous hospital treatments by drawing colourful patterns in a small Barnes & Noble notebook.
She called her drawings “emotional doodles.” They were safe, imaginary mazes where her thoughts could wander, get lost, find solitude.
“They gave me temporary relief for my crazy mind,” she said in a telephone conversation. “I did them whenever I was stressed, heartbroken, anxious, whatever. They started as loopy shapes, tiny little figures.”
They eventually became personal hieroglyphics, a language she couldn’t quite express in words. On one hand, the coloured pencil lines dancing on the paper seemed as chaotic as the ongoing challenges of her life, raising a small boy while helping care for a profoundly disabled husband.
