He’s been altruistic since he was a little boy. And a rare medical condition has never prevented Gabriel Attard from doing good deeds for others. 

A Maltese boy receiving treatment for a rare medical condition in England took coats from his family’s wardrobes to give to homeless men. 

Gabriel delivering coats to homeless people in England.

Gabriel Attard was moved when he saw the homeless sleeping rough on the street.

Helping others comes naturally to Gabriel, who celebrated his 14th birthday last week after travelling to the UK in December to see doctors about his DHPR deficiency.

Despite being one of the youngest people in the world ever to have been treated for the condition at just a few days old, early intervention was not enough to stop it.

“It’s a metabolic condition,” says his mother Theresa. “It’s all trial and error when it comes to treating it and there is very little information. It can manifest itself in different ways and there is not a lot known about life expectancy.”

But this is not something Gabriel tends to dwell on. Instead, he just wants to help people.

“It’s fun,” he says. So, it’s no surprise that the teen from Attard was moved into taking action when he came across a homeless man on a street in East Sussex at Christmas.

I  have to try to explain to him that we can’t help everyone

“I was upset and really sad when I saw him, and I wanted to ask him to come home with me. So I went to the shop and bought him soup, hot chocolate, coffee, bacon sandwiches and crisps.”

But that night Gabriel went to bed crying and decided he wanted to do more for the man.

The next day, he went through the wardrobes of his family’s UK home and collected a pile of his father and brothers’ old coats and jackets. Theresa was happy to let her son continue helping.

“The next day we went back to find the same man to give him a coat but we could only find his trolley, so we walked up and down with the jackets before we found him with a whole group of other homeless men.

“It was a bit intimidating to approach them, as we weren’t sure how they would react. But Gabriel wasn’t scared at all and walked straight up to the man he recognised and gave him a jacket.

“You could see he was very grateful, as were the rest of the men.”

Gabriel and two of his three brothers all have some form of DHPR deficiency.

“Nobody knows how it will affect a person,” says his mother. “My eldest son Luke was misdiagnosed, while my second son Sam doesn’t have it. My third son Thomas has it, but intellectually he is fine and is studying nursing at college.

“Gabriel was born normal and treated early but it didn’t work. He now has severe dyslexia and needs an LSE at school. He has trouble remembering anything he learned, so it’s very frustrating for him and for us.”

All three sons are on medication, but Ms Attard says their body doesn’t always respond and they need to monitor their diet and have regular doctors’ visits.

While she has had a lifetime of worry as a mother, her youngest is a happy-go-lucky boy who loves watching horror movies and being a goalkeeper for his local soccer team. As well as helping people.

When the family visited China last summer, Gabriel again found time to share his generosity.

“One night when we were on our way to dinner, we saw an old lady going through bins looking for food,” Theresa recalls.

“On our way home we brought her some pizza. At first, when we tapped on her shoulder, she was scared of us, probably because there weren’t many Westerners in the area we were visiting. But then she took the pizza. We weren’t sure if she’d ever even seen a pizza before to be honest.”

Theresa says her son has always been the same. 

“He used to help even as a little boy. I remember once waiting for him outside the classroom when he was only about three, and the kids came charging out and knocked a little girl. He was the only one who stopped to help her up.”

In fact, the hardest part for Theresa is curbing her son’s enthusiasm.

“I have to try to explain to him, that we can’t help everyone. He wants to bring people home and asks us to give them a job. He also loves bringing animals home and just wants to feed them and take care of them.”

Because of this, Ms Attard and her husband are considering turning their next family holiday into one that centres around volunteering, to help channel her son’s energy.

“School can be difficult for Gabriel,” she continues. “So, we are thinking of taking some time off and spending a few months helping people with our sons as we feel it would be a good way for him to learn.” 

The idea puts a big smile on the teenager’s face.

“That’s my dream job to help people,” he says. “I’d like to travel to other countries and help everyone and I’d like to save up and buy homeless people new phones.”