Overview, T-Shirts, and Go Fund Me links

Travis and Ashleigh Foster have been very blessed and were very excited to announce the coming arrival of their first child, a son they will be naming Hunter in June 2020. Unfortunately during this time that should be one of the happiest of their lives, they received some extremely devastating news.

At a routine 20 week ultrasound, the Doctors found some concerning items on baby Hunters heart and ordered an Echo-cardiogram at Children's Hospital in Aurora, CO.

On February 28th, the team at Children's Hospital diagnosed baby Hunter with a very serious and very rare Congenital Heart Defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot. Tetralogy of Fallot is a rare condition caused by a combination of four heart defects that are present at birth. The four conditions are:

• Pulmonary valve stenosis. Pulmonary valve stenosis is a narrowing of the pulmonary valve — the valve that separates the lower right chamber of the heart from the main blood vessel leading to the lungs (pulmonary artery). Narrowing of the pulmonary valve reduces blood flow to the lungs. The narrowing might also affect the muscle beneath the pulmonary valve. In some severe cases, the pulmonary valve doesn't form properly and causes reduced blood flow to the lungs.
• Ventricular septal defect. A ventricular septal defect is a hole in the wall that separates the two lower chambers of the heart — the left and right ventricles. The hole allows deoxygenated blood in the right ventricle — blood that has circulated through the body and is returning to the lungs to replenish its oxygen supply — to flow into the left ventricle and mix with oxygenated blood fresh from the lungs. Blood from the left ventricle also flows back to the right ventricle in an inefficient manner. This ability for blood to flow through the ventricular septal defect reduces the supply of oxygenated blood to the body and eventually can weaken the heart.
• Overriding aorta. Normally the aorta — the main artery leading out to the body — branches off the left ventricle. In tetralogy of Fallot, the aorta is shifted slightly to the right and lies directly above the ventricular septal defect. In this position the aorta receives blood from both the right and left ventricles, mixing the oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle with the oxygen-rich blood from the left ventricle.
• Right ventricular hypertrophy. When the heart's pumping action is overworked, it causes the muscular wall of the right ventricle to thicken. Over time this might cause the heart to stiffen, become weak and eventually fail.

These defects, which affect the structure of the heart, cause oxygen-poor blood to flow out of the heart and to the rest of the body. Infants and children with tetralogy of Fallot usually have blue-tinged skin because their blood doesn't carry enough oxygen.

Due to this serious, Hunter will have to be delivered at Children's Hospital in Aurora and immediately be admitted to the CICU where he will undergo two different open heart operations in his first few months of life. The first operation which he will undergo at just a few days of life is a temporary fix until he is strong enough to overcome the larger more intrusive operation at a few weeks to a few months old.

Hunter and his family will be spending several months at Children's Hospital in Aurora, CO and will be losing a significant portion of their income during this time as well as during Hunters recovery period.

Please follow Hunter and his family's journey by continue to visiting www.momoftof.com

Any prayers, support, or financial contributions are greatly appreciated. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Foster Family to help during this difficult time.

In order to purchase a T-shirt to show your support, please visit: www.bonfire.com/hunters-tetralogy-of-fallot-journey

If you would prefer to give a monetary donation in lieu of or in addition to a T-shirt purchase, please visit Baby Hunters Go Fund Me page at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hunters-tetralogy-of-fallot-journey

Thank you so much, and God bless you.