Hero Fund

This is a very personal matter for our family, and one we have not publicly discussed much until now. Last year Veronica, Chris, & their sweet girl were blessed to add Hudson to the family, he has become their little superhero and is so loved by his big sister. Hudson was born seemingly perfect and as time passed he was missing motor milestones, after months of testing it was discovered he had Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1; It is a degenerative genetic condition which unfortunately has no cure. With SMA the survival motor neuron (SMN1) is not produced. The child will lose the ability to move, swallow, and they have weak muscles that assist in breathing. Hudson has Type 1, which is the severe form. Life expectancy for these infants is between 6 months and 2 years. Type 1 infants never learn to lift their heads or sit unassisted. It has been a year of celebrating milestones and truly loving all the time they have with him. He now has a feeding tube, uses a BiPap to sleep, a cough assist (which is a machine that he uses multiple times a day that simulates a cough to clear his throat and lungs), a suction machine (because he has a hard time swallowing) and oxygen. As most people wouldn't have done they didn't plan for this kind of medical care for their sweet baby boy. He has beaten the odds and is part of a small percentage to make it past his first birthday. Chris has put school on hold to care for him full time, and Veronica is still hard at work outside the home. They have always hoped for a big family with lots of little ones to love, so the other major blow they are facing is that they also found out that there will always be a 25% chance their children could have SMA Type 1. Having travelled this path with Hudson, they do not wish for another child to go through this. The only way to guarantee that their children will not be affected will be a costly procedure called In Vitro Fertilization with Pre-Genetic Diagnosis (IVF w/ PGD). After being asked by multiple people how they can help them, we have come up with this. We, as their family, have started this page(with their permission & blessing). Donations are not required, kind words appreciated, and as always prayers are more than we could ever ask and we are grateful.