#4Hunter

Hunter J. Honan was born on December 20th, 2021, to Joseph Diamante Honan (JD) and Heather Honan (Celebre). He came into this world strong as a bull, weighing almost 10 lbs. with a heart of gold on Christmas week. He was the best present their family could receive. His brother Henry (5) and sister Hazel (3) couldn’t be happier to welcome him home.

On August 7th, 2023, Hunter went through his normal routine, played with his siblings, danced throughout the day (even to no music!) ate a huge dinner, gave his mom and dad multiple kisses, and went to sleep like he did every night at 6:30 PM for 19 months and 19 days. He was happy and healthy. It was their summer vacation week, and the family was excited for all that was planned so everyone went to bed on time in prep for the week. On August 8th morning, JD went to wake up Hunter, and noticed he was in an unusual position. Hunter always slept facing up, but that morning he was flat down in a yoga position. That is when he realized, something was wrong. Hunter was gone. Medical responders did everything they could, but it was too late. Hunter had passed away in his sleep hours prior. No cry, no signs, nothing.

It just doesn’t make sense. Hunter’s mom is neurotic and talks to the doctor for every cut the children get. In prep for their summer week together, Heather brought Hunter to the doctor for a quick check-up (no vaccines) the Friday before he passed. He was perfect. We have all heard about SIDS, but have you heard about SUDC? SUDC is Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood. “SUDC is a category of death in children between the ages of 1 and 18 that remains unexplained after a thorough investigation, including an autopsy. At this time, we do not know what causes SUDC, how to predict it, or how to prevent it.” - https://sudc.org

At first, the family was told Hunter’s lymph nodes were swollen and he possibly had an infection. Currently, signs are leading towards SUDC for Hunter, however the family will not know for 3-6 months. The family is also waiting to find out if this could have been cancer or a blood infection. We need to learn more about this because no one should ever go through the pain the Honan family is going through. There has to be more preventative measures in place. This is a nightmare. These funds will be used for further genetic testing for Hunter’s DNA, their two children, and raising awareness for SUDC and/or St Jude's so further research can be focused towards this tragic cause of death. There is a lot of testing that medical examiners don't do, and we need to do this on our own. We need to make sense of this.

Hunter was the sweetest little boy, always giggling, he could even say 50+ words. He danced every single day, and people were drawn to him everywhere he went. He was a happy and pure soul who brought light to everyone he met. Let’s bring light to others through Hunter by finding ways to prevent this from happening to another family.