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.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Hunter's busy day

It started at 8am with our nurse waking us up to start the "surgery process". He's going in for a Cat Scan and it's an official surgery because he'll be going under anesthesia. Because it's a Cat Scan, he has to drink about 16 ounces of contrast mixed with Gatorade to make certain things in his little body light up under the scan. In addition to that, they have to stick him and put in an IV in his left hand to push in more contrast just as he's about to go under.


Hunter with his red lips from drinking contrast and gatorade for two hours. Pucker up!


Here's dad entertaining Hunter right before he's about to get his anesthesia. We usually like to send him off with a smile.



Here's dad and Hunter in the recovery room. He woke up in a great mood!


After the Cat Scan, we got back to our room and I realized that his right arm with his pic-line is about the size of a watermelon. His pic-line has gone bad and looks as if it is no longer effectively delivering fluids into his artery. They've gone somewhere else or there seems to be a back-up somewhere. So now that has to be removed. The removing part is easy and it's really not even felt when the line comes out. The part that blows is that he's now going to have to get in another pic. He's already had one in his left arm and this latest one was in his right. So I guess now, we go back to the left. It's another surgery where he'll be going under anesthesia again for them to place in what will hopefully be his LAST pic line.

After that, we were told that his blood counts are a little low and they are going to transfuse blood. This is pretty easy - he's had a ton. He's just pre-medicated with Tylenol and Benedryl and just hangs out for three hours while it's transfused. Thank god for blood donors!!!!!!!!!!!


Here are Hunter's little feet that sometimes get tangled in his blood cord.


While getting blood, we had the pleasure of having these lovely musicians come in and rock out in our hospital room. Always time for a live performance!


Then it was "sitz bath" time. He doesn't seem to mind as long as he's got toys close at hand and Sesame Street on the TV.


....and then.................he passed out.

The Cat Scan results came back later on in the evening. It showed that Hunter has a little bit of an enlarged kidney and liver and that his lungs have collapsed a little. Nothing that can't recover and nothing that they didn't expect. So I guess it's no big deal. Sweet.

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