Hunter was a seemingly normal baby boy when he was delivered and handed over to his family in 1997. Yet only 5 days after Hunter was born, he began to turn blue. His parents rushed him to the Emergency Room. Physicians immediately began running tests to figure out what was wrong with Hunter. It was determined that he had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. This syndrome occurs when the left side of the heart does not develop correctly, and the only way to fix it is through surgery. For Hunter, this meant 3 surgeries, the first of which lasted a grueling 10 ½ hours. The family was given options to fly anywhere in the country to ensure that they got “the best” care. However, they were confident based on the treatment Hunter had received so far as well as the attentiveness of the physicians, nurses, and staff, that they already had “the best” at Wolfson Children’s Hospital!
Prior to spring of 2013, Hunter was an active boy. He played little league baseball at Jacksonville Beach and assisted his brother’s Pop Warner team. He would always be there early on Saturday to help set up the fields. Hunter follows UF Gator football and basketball, Jaguars and Cowboys football, St. Louis Cardinals baseball, but is not able to do the one thing he would love to do, PLAY football!! Hunter has set his mind to becoming a General Manager for a NFL team one day and passionately follows college ball to scout talent. You can see his latest picks on the Heart for Hunter page on Facebook!!
In 2013, Hunter was invited to attend the Tim Tebow Golf Tournament. Hunter could not walk the distance of 2 holes and sought follow up care with the University of Florida Pediatric Cardiology Program at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. After two heart catheterizations, it was found that Hunter had a severely dilated right atrium, a complication of his earlier surgeries. Together with the hypoplastic (underdeveloped) left ventricle, the doctors decided to refer Hunter to the UF transplant doctors to discern timing of a potential heart transplant. Hunter met with Dr. Jay Fricker in December 2013 and it was decided to move ahead with placing him on the heart transplant list. Hunter had to stop going to school to protect him from potential infections that would compromise his ability to be transplanted.
With the cost of a transplant often exceeding $500,000, many transplant families are unable to shoulder the financial burden of such a procedure. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is a national charity dedicated to organizing and guiding communities in raising funds for transplant-related expenses. Hunter is staying active by focusing his efforts on fundraising for COTA. He and his family are humbly grateful for having family, friends and church family encouraging them. But they need your help. COTA is a non-profit 501 c 3 organization and your gift to assist with transplant-related expenses is tax deductible. Any amount is appreciated and will help give patients like Hunter a chance to live a normal life. Thank you in advance for your generosity. It means the world to Hunter and his family.
We are happy to be working with you!
Hello All, I am so pleased to have been introduced to you all by Judy DiCarlo and her daughter, my friend Michelle! I will be bringing Hunter to Bermuda with me on December 5, 2014 Patricia Aube
Dear Nancy, My thoughts and prayers are with you and Hunter and your entire family. In 1984, our son was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Randall, was the first child with these diagnosis to leave the hospital in South Carolina. It was amazing. We lost Randall the following August 1985 due to other health issues that we did not know about at that time. ( we later learned that my husband and I were both carriers for galactosemia. Basically, enzymes can not be broken down from digesting lactose and galactose. Randall could not eat for a long time and he was given some extra protein type medication in his IV that his body could not digest. He went on and lost his gall bladder to this illness and he never recovered from that ). He was an awesome child that went through a lot of surgeries and procedures in his young life. We fully believe that he would have continued to thrive and grow had he not had this other undiagnosed illness. Just like Hunter is strong, so was he. I am so proud of Hunter. The things he’s endured and the way he’s endured them, is admirable. I am interested in following his process of his wonderful life. We are praying for all of you!!! God bless Hunter. Go get ’em!