Hello! My name is Heather D'Hondt and I am the mother of the most AMAZINGLY strong five year old little girl named Adalyne (Addie). I want to tell you a little about my sweet girl. At 20 weeks pregnant I was involved in an accident that almost ended her life before it began. My placenta had abrupted and she was almost born premature with little to no chance of survival. After the grace of God, modern medicine, and lots of bed rest she was born at 39 weeks gestation.

Since Addie was born she was plagued with strange instances of constant sickness, chronic vomiting, bowel problems, and a whole slew of strange health issues. Around one year of age, after being sick for 2 months straight, being diagnosed with chicken pox, 6 viral infections, pneumonia, and ear infections I decided to not listen to our pediatrician and took my baby to UK emergency room, convinced something else was wrong.

Once we arrived the completed labs and it was determined that Addie had an infection that had entered her blood stream and it was making her very ill. Upon this discovery we also found out her immune system was not working properly and she had no ability to fight off infection. She was initially diagnosed with auto-immune neutropenia (this has been later changed to chronic neutropenia). It was initially thought she had leukemia but after a bone narrow biopsy it was found they she instead has a deficient immune system.

Addie was placed on twice weekly infections that forced her bones to produce more marrow and due to more infections that occurred during her stay in the hospital we ended up being there almost two weeks. After that we thought we had our answer as to why she was so sick all the time. Instead we ended up with fever protocols, constant diagnoses of pneumonia and were told she had a "strange spot" on her lungs. Once again bringing up the leukemia scare.

After constant hospitalizations, antibiotics, and more questions than answers I reached out to a hematologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota to try to help us find answers. After short deliberation and the Mayo Clinic making her appointments Addie and I hopped on a plane and flew to Rochester. Thankfully, due to the amazing community and my workplace we were able to secure a place to stay and eventually made our way into the Ronald McDonald House of Rochester.

While being seen outpatient at Mayo Addie was subject to a slew of more testing, multiple surgeries, it was determined that Addie has chronic neutropenia but she also had a rare birth defect in her lung called a pulmonary sequestration. It was so rare that our local hospital had no idea what it was. In short, Addie had an extra artery leading from her heart that ended at the base of her lung. From there the artery would pump blood into her lung, causing it to collapse and in turn causing the chronic pneumonia.

After getting her medication straightened away and a new care plan, after three months we opted to come home and transfer care to Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

After transferring her care over we met with many specialists and Addie again had a new care plan. We were to go back to Mayo in 6 months to see the surgeon and have the right lower lobe of her lung removed so help prevent lung damage from the chronic infection. We waited the six months, Addie and I again traveled Minnesota to Mayo (there is no other place I fully trust my baby girl with) and they completed the lobectomy and removed half of her lower right lung lobe. We had a few complications but eventually we came back home to Kentucky after about 2 months in Minnesota.

While seeing her ENT at Cincinnati it was determined that in order to help prevent chronic infections she needed to have her adenoids and tonsils removed. She had already had her adenoids removed once but they had grown back. She had a routine outpatient surgery at Cincinnati and we went home same day. About 6 days out from the tonsillectomy Addie woke me in the middle of the night making a weird gulping noise. Me, thinking she was going to puke, went and got towels to try to save my bedding. Instead, when she vomited she began puking up blood, lots of blood. After her second episode and me convincing myself she hadn't eaten red food before bed, I quickly got her into the car and tried to drive her to the nearest Children's hospital. About halfway there Addie puked up another large amount of blood and went unconscious. I have NEVER been so scared in my life. I called an ambulance and we made it to the hospital just in time where she was taken into emergency surgery.

After a blood transfusion and a week long stay Addie had a long recovery at home. We found out then that her platelets don't clot as fast as they should and she has a platelet defect that almost resulted in her death.

On top of everything else it was found that Addie suffers from rumination disorder causing chronic vomiting, she was diagnosed with failure to thrive and almost had a GI tube put in her belly. She also has been found to have a redundant colon that has caused a slew of digestion issues. With the colon problems we also discovered her bladder doesn't function as it should and it is believed that all of her dysfunctional muscle issues are caused by Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Cincinnati does not see children for Ehlers-Danlos until they turn 6. So we are waiting for that.

In the midst of all this Addie has endured more trauma in her life than most adults have. Emotionally she struggles. She has constant lab draws, frequent hospitalizations that start with traumatic ER visits. She does not have a normal life and since the pandemic has hit we have mostly become hermits. She has tried some sports so she can make friends and be somewhat social and she has found a love for softball.

I had tossed around the idea of a service dog back at the beginning of her diagnosis while we were at Mayo and we had been give the hope things would get better in a short time BUT we obviously have not been as fortunate as we had hoped we would be. From the moment Addie was brought home we have had our Shiloh Shepherd, Ranger. Addie has grown increasingly attached to Ranger as her health issues have continued. When she is sick, Ranger is her comfort, when she is sad and lonely, Ranger is her best friend, when she is upset, Ranger is there. This past fall Ranger had a large tumor removed and it was determined she has cancer. The tumors have spread throughout her body and the inevitable will eventually happen and Addie will be devastated. Even though Ranger is not a service dog she has provided a great service to Addie and in an effort to provide a greater level of care for her and provide her with more support during her times of sickness and hospital stays we have opted to try to raise money to help her get the service dog she needs.

As much as my pride hurts to ask for help I am stepping outside of my comfort zone and asking for help to make my sweet girls life more enjoyable. She has been homebound from school since October due to recommendations from her hematologist and there is no better time than now to start the process. I have found a reputable family selling F1b Golden doodles and my hope is to aquire one of those puppies for my sweet girl and get her trained. I will try to post updates as I can. Thank you for reading our story and if you cannot donate please spread the word to not only help our girl but raise awareness for those that also suffer from the chronic health problems that Addie has had to endure.