Death of a Superhero

A Family's Story about Courage, Bravery and the Defining Moments of LOVE

Our sweet, lil' baby love lost his battle to AML Leukemia on March 8, 2010. We fought long, hard and very aggressively for 2.5 years, only to have his cancer come back for the fourth time to finally take his life. He was only 3 years old.

This entire blog is about Hunter's amazing journey. It's about his life and his love......his determination and his courage.......his absolutely, brilliant personality, and the affect he's had on people all over the world.

He's left an unimaginable footprint on this earth and has changed the lives of thousands of individuals. People who didn't realize how precious life was, now live it with extreme gratefulness. People who took every minute they get to spend with their children for granted, now savor every last second. And people who weren't quite sure what love is all about, now love deeper, love stronger and love with every ounce of their soul.

People all around the world have shared their love, their well wishes, their prayers and their inspiration, and we could have NEVER achieved as much as we did without them. We are humbled by their generosity & their true friendships & are forever grateful for every last person that has come into our lives through our experience with Hunter. He was our precious baby love who we loved and cherished with all our hearts and we are forever crushed and terribly, broken-hearted.

Dance in the clouds baby cakes. Mom & dad are watching proudly & you will remain so very close to our hearts for all of eternity.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Hunter's Transformation


Hunter 1 month old.
A true treasure.
6 months old.
14 months old......freshly diagnosed with AML Leukemia in December of 2007. This was one of his first smiles after being in the hospital for about 2 months.
and believe me......it was hard to get.
1st round of chemo.

Went with the mohawk after his hair started
falling out on the pillows.


3rd round of chemo, handling everything like a champ.
4th round of chemo
5th round of chemo........sometimes not so fun.
This was a really hard round.


In full remission after 5 rounds of chemo
and 9 months in the hospital.
Hunter 2 years old.
Obviously feeling pretty cool.

Enjoying life being cancer free.



Hunter right before he got his pneumonia.....
shortly after, he was diagnosed with his AML Relapse in January of 2009.




Hunter's cancer had returned
after 6 months of being in remission.
1st round of chemo...........
here we go all over again.


Feeling pretty good after 1st round.





Right after the 2nd round of chemo.....
there were still traces of cancer in his marrow, so the doctors advised that we do another round to try to remove all of the remaining leukemia.



This is right after the 3rd round of chemo, the experimental Clofarabine..............



.....it didn't do a thing and the leukemia almost killed him.


The transplant was postponed........and the possibility
of now even making it to transplant was slim to none.


We did another intense round of chemo
with hope of saving Hunter's life.


Pretty sad and scary times.



But so far it was the right decision.........we were on our way back to transplant.



Transplant day........and happy to be there.



On his way to healing.....


Cat scan of his chest to check for a possible virus due to his low immune system.




Short bump in the road with severe Graft vs. Host disease in his gut, upper stomach and skin.
Another horrible side effect of the Bone Marrow Transplant that could have and can still take Hunter's life.


Kicked that and was on his way again to living a healthy life.



Even though he is finished with his transplant.......we still get constant infusions of certain medicines, platelets, red blood, calcium.........whatever his body is lacking during this whole process.......you name it......there's a supplement.


This was us two weeks ago rushing to the emergency room
with swollen cheeks and a face bleed
that wouldn't stop. Turns out he only needed platelets.



Thank goodness he recovers so nicely..........
this was last week on the morning of his birthday party.
Happy as a clam to still be alive and turning 3 after 2 years of fighting.


So..........almost a full 2 years later, Hunter finally had his Bone Marrow Transplant. And all he had to do to get there was 9 rounds of chemo, a whole butt-load of bone marrow aspirates and biopsies, tons of x-rays and numerous cat scans, 5 picc-line surgeries and 2 broviac surgeries, a bronchoscopy once or twice, a colonoscopy, pneumonia, a bunch of bone scans, mri's, echocardiograms, graft vs. host disease, cedif, myositis, typlitis, hmmmmmm...........what else..................oh yeah........and a whole hell of a lot of tears, heartache, deep.......deep seeded pain and fear...........and life changing emotions that will forever change the way we approach life, appreciate life and live life. We can't help but to sometimes feel as if we are on borrowed time with Hunter and that all of our sweat and tears and accomplishments can be taken away at any given moment. Just like that. So we live life now with Hunter's best interests at heart. And however long he has on this planet..........we are going to make sure that he has the best possible life imagined. I can't think of anyone who deserves it more.




Celebration of Life


Hunter is turning 3 years old and we've decided to celebrate his life and enjoy the company of our good friends and all of those that have loved, supported, cheered on and shared our journey over the last two years.

His birthday is September 21st, but we'll be celebrating it on the 19th of September at our home from the hours of 3pm to 9pm. We've posted the invite and have sent information through Facebook, but I know that there are lots of people whose information we don't have. So if you are reading the blog and would like to attend, please send me your information to lenore@zentodd.com or contact me through Facebook and I will forward you the event specifics.

Thanks for all of the love and well wishes and wonderful emails and messages that continue to shine on us every single day. We are slowly getting caught up on life and are actually getting settled into our home and have somewhat of a routine now........so it's not so chaotic and scary.

Hunter is smiling now more than ever and his spirits seem high and full of life. He's got quite the sense of humor and he's quite "grown up" for his short 3 years of being alive.........man.........what a life he's had.