Hunter Schmitz

Hunter is the son of Brooke & Tim Schmitz born on September 17th, 2018. He was discharged home and life for the first week was difficult for everyone. Hunter was eating very little and getting him to finish a bottle was a fight. Mom and dad became very concerned and thought that he might have some issues with acid reflux. After an awful battle one night to get Hunter to eat, Brooke made an appointment to have him seen by the doctor. During the clinic visit, Hunter refused to feed for the doctor and she noted that his color seemed a little off and was pretty lethargic. She told Brooke that Hunter should be taken to the ER at Children’s Hospital.

Since arriving in the ER, life for this family has been a whirl wind. He was immediately admitted to the NICU. Test upon test have been done. Initially they found a very large hole in his heart, what medical professionals call a VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect). Because of the size of the whole and its location, he will have to have open heart surgery to repair it around 6 months of age. Hunter has however had many symptoms that do not fit with the VSD diagnosis. He had/has rapid breathing, extreme agitation & a refusal to eat. Since being at Children’s other medical issues with him have unraveled. They learned that he has a protein allergy, he then was diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis which is air in the intestinal wall and can be very dangerous in babies. He is currently being treated for this and seems to be doing better. However, as of yesterday it was discovered that he likely also has cardiomyopathy which is a form of heart failure. This is not related to the VSD and a completely separate issue. This can potentially complicate the surgery he will need to repair the whole.

There are still so many questions about his diagnoses and a gray cloud hanging over the family’s head. He is a medical mystery and the talk of all the medical teams here. It was even brought up that he quite possibly could become a case study due to everything that has transpired since being at the hospital. Hunter will be at the hospital for likely another month, if not longer. It’s going to be a long road for not only him but also his family and big brother Henry.