Support Hunter's Journey to a Heart Transplant

Hunter Patrick Rael, my nephew and one of the coolest kids I know, was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease in 2022, at the age of 5 years old. This is a very rare disease that is life threatening and causes inflammation of blood vessels to the heart and leads to heart disease. There are no doctors in New Mexico that specialize in this disease because of its rarity. There are doctors in Denver at the Colorado Children’s Hospital that do treat this disease. For the last 3 years Hunter and his family have fought hard to battle this disease having to take multiple trips to Colorado and trying many different treatment plans. During his last trip to Colorado for two separate procedures, first to place catheters in his blood vessels to his heart, it was determined that they could not move forward with the next procedure which was a Coronary Bypass because his heart is too weak and would not handle the procedure. The next steps to save his life is to have a heart transplant. There are no other options. Although the doctors tell us his heart is weak, man you couldn’t even tell because he has the most beautiful purest heart! He fights with what’s left of the good parts of his heart everyday! There are so many things healthy children do daily that he has to miss out on due to the fact that it can put him into cardiac arrest or blood build up leading to an aneurysm. He can’t run and play or do anything that will cause him to make his heart beat fast. Even through all that he misses out on he keeps good spirits! His next trip to Colorado will be to be placed on a list for a heart transplant, but until his name is called for a transplant he will have to take bi-weekly trips to the Children’s Hospital in Colorado to meet with the heart transplant team for check ups and temporary treatment. We are hopeful that his name will be called for a transplant. These trips from New Mexico to Colorado will be financially detrimental to my brother and sister as they also battle to fight for their son’s life. My sister in law will often have to travel alone to these appointments with Hunter because my brother will have to stay back and continue to work and make money to help support and contribute to his family. I am asking for any donations to help support them and take a little bit of financial stress and worry off them so they can get Hunter to these necessary and life saving appointments. Please help us save Hunter and walk through this journey with him!

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