Hunter Morris

On November 1st, 2018 at just two months old, Hunter was rushed to the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia (CHOP), with a severe case of pneumonia.  That same night he was admitted through the ER into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at CHOP.  While they were running blood tests, it was determined that Hunter has an extremely rare disease called “Chronic Granulomatous Disease,” CGD for short, which is an inherited immune deficiency.  The doctors explained that Hunter’s immune system is not capable of recognizing and fighting off certain molds, fungi, and bacteria.  Simple things like going for a walk, going to the park, driving down the street while someone is cutting their grass, blowing their leaves, or just going on a hayride could cause Hunter to contract a severe, life-threatening infection.  This news was astonishing to Hunters family, who as you can imagine one minute had a perfectly healthy boy and the next they were told he has a severe and very rare life-threatening disease.  There is hope though; there is a possible cure, a Bone Marrow Transplant would replace his immune system with one that can fight these things off. 

The plan for Hunter is to get him healthy enough to go home on a prophylactic dose of antibiotics and anti fungal’s while they search for a matched donor.  Once a Donor is found they will begin the transplant process, which involves putting Hunter through Chemo Therapy to knock out his immune system and make room for the new Bone Marrow to take over.  This won't take place until after the cold and flu season, most likely March or April of 2019 if all goes well.

While Hunter’s family processes the gravity of the situation and comes to terms that Hunter has this disease and he will need a lot of special care along with a very serious procedure to get better his friends and family can all send prayers and best wishes.  Please do not send flowers or live floral arrangements as they can make Hunter very ill.  The goal is to keep Hunter healthy for his transplant.  With that being said, this process is going to take a substantial financial and emotional toll on the family.  We are looking to raise money for Hunter so that during his transplant his family can concentrate on getting and keeping him healthy and maintaining as normal of a family life as possible for their 4-year-old daughter Riley.  We say as normal as possible because once the transplant begins, Hunter is required to be isolated from friends and family and have no contact with anyone under the age of 14 for 4-6 months while his new immune system regrows.