CMNH MIRACLE CHILD: Meet Hunter Bruton

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Toddlers are busy, in constant motion.

For three-year-old Hunter, every step is a giant achievement.

“He was born January 8th of 2018,” said Victoria Bruton, Hunter’s mom. “And he spent five months in the ICU. We did two months in the cardiac ICU and then three months in the NICU and then after he was discharged two weeks later. We were admitted again, and again and again and it kept happening and we’ve been admitted over 300 times to the hospital since then.”

It’s been a long journey for the Bruton family, where the path wasn’t always clear.

“Well, they told me when I was 20 weeks pregnant that they couldn’t find part of his brain and they couldn’t find a stomach,” said Bruton.

Hunter has been diagnosed with Charge Syndrome, Dandy Walk Syndrome, and SCID or DiGeorge Syndrome. Hunter’s conditions make leaving his home virtually impossible due to his compromised immune system. He is deaf, legally blind and part of his cerebellum is missing which affects his fine motor skills, walking, and eating. With all of that said, Hunter’s mom said he still finds joy in his day.

“He claps his hands and he gets all excited,” said Bruton. “Yeah, he’ll jump up from the bottom of his playpen and stand up Look at he likes to give knuckles. He loves to give his dad’s knuckles.”

Victoria said they got through the tough times thanks to the kindness of strangers.

“I can say that whenever we were in that position of being stuck in the NICU and we had Ebony back at home with family, during that five-month time span with no income because Russell was with me, Children’s Miracle Network came in and they donated hundreds of dollars for us to get back and forth to be able to be with both children,” said Bruton.

Victoria also said Children’s Miracle Network helped their family rest easier at night.

“So we weren’t sleeping at night,” said Bruton. “No, nobody in our house was because of that. Children’s Miracle Network paid for a crib for Hunter and that is a lifesaver. It’s changed our world tremendously.”

Victoria said they can now focus on what matters most.

“We were preparing for the worst, we didn’t know exactly what was going to happen,” said Bruton. “But to see him now and how excellent he’s doing and watching him walk and run with his walker, it’s incredible, it’s amazing.”

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