Hunter's Story
Hunter Manley is a free caring, loving life, 3 year old boy. Hunter is our miracle baby. If you asked me and his dad during his first week of life that we would be sitting here today with a little boy that loves life, plays hard and is so stubborn (he takes after both of us), I would say you were crazy. When you go through challenging times in your life, sometimes it's hard to see the other side.
My pregnancy with Hunter was not the normal maternity experience; we had several unknowns going into labor. Hunter has a disorder called VACTERL Association. This disorder can affect everything in the midline, and ultimately, Hunter was born with a birth defect due to this disorder. He had surgery on his 5th day of life to address a TEF (Tracheoesophageal Fistula); this correction allowed anything that he swallows to follow the normal path down into his stomach. Also as a result of this disorder, Hunter has unilateral hearing loss (moderate to severe hearing loss in his right ear). This type of hearing loss at this age is hard to detect and compensate for, because he can hear, but he can miss things. The outside world even questions why he needs a hearing aid, not knowing the full extent of his condition. When we found out he needed to wear a hearing aid, my first thought was, "Why Hunter, why our family?" I am sure everyone asks these same questions at some point in their life. There may never be answers, however, how you respond and the resources you surround yourself with is how you get through it. We were very lucky to have found Presbyterian Ear Institute (PEI). They helped Hunter adjust to his new hearing aid and to continually develop his listen to learn skills.
I know we are not the only family going though these types of things with our children. Giving to PEI gives us and other families like ours the chance to make the best of our given situation. There are many programs that help fund the children at PEI, however, these programs do not cover everything. - Robyn, Hunter's Mom
“A donation will continue to help other kids like Hunter. ”
