On December 28, 2023, The LaCanne family welcomed their second son into the world.
Hunter LaCanne was born with Down syndrome and a severe congenital heart defect called an Atrioventricular Canal Defect (AVSD) that will require open heart surgery between 3-5 months of life.
Kathryn and Jason have been preparing for his arrival since finding out about his Down syndrome diagnosis at 14 weeks and his heart defect at 21 weeks. While they prepared their hearts and their minds for what would come once Hunter arrived, the reality of his conditions hit hard and fast.
After a NICU stay, Hunter was released and they were excited to begin their lives as a family of 4 at home - especially introducing Hunter to big brother Colton who was waiting anxiously to meet his little brother, but it was short lived. With Hunters needs, he is seen multiple times a week by several different medical teams.
About 5 days after being home, and during a routine appointment, their world was rocked by a suspected diagnosis of Transient Myelodysplasia (TMD) - also known as Transient Myeloproliferative Disorder- essentially known as transient leukemia. They were instructed to rush to Childrens National Hospital in DC where Hunter was admitted for 4 days while his initial specialized care teams (hematology/oncology/cardiology/GI) stabilized different aspects of Hunters health.
Since being discharged, medical appointments have been plentiful (several a week) and the diagnoses seemed to keep racking up. Thankfully, Hunters most recent appointment has shown improvement in a couple of things and he has since been released from his HEMOC team!
In Hunters short 5 weeks of life, the family has been rocked by the stressors of keeping up with everything that Hunters little life entails medically speaking. It is no short drive to get to the multitude of doctor appointments and the financial strain that has been placed on them already (and will continue to be) has been difficult to navigate. Jason is active duty military and Kathryn is a stay at home mom.
As time goes on and they get closer and closer to Hunters open heart surgery, they are trying to prepare themselves mentally, emotionally, and financially.
This collection is aimed to not only bring awareness to Hunters diagnoses, Down syndrome and AVSD (congenital heart defects), but to help support the LaCanne family during this stressful time. A portion of the proceeds of these shirts will be going to Kathryn and Jason as they navigate this difficult time in their lives and hopefully have one less thing to worry about.
The family asks that you wear your shirt proudly - please share Hunters story in hopes at building the biggest prayer team a little babe could have.
