Hiking for a cure

Published 9:35 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

For every parent, there’s nothing scarier than the thought of giving birth to a baby who may have a potentially serious medical problem. The weeks and months pass by and you hope and dream for a perfect little child, a baby that can look forward to a long, happy, healthy life. That’s not always the case, though, and many children are born having to fight for their lives at the very start.

Dawn and Mark Harper had those fears realized when they noticed that something wasn’t quite right with their newborn son, Wyatt. Born a few days premature, he immediately had health problems.

“He had difficulty breast-feeding, was losing weight consistently each day, his bilirubin levels were very high and he was lethargic and difficult to keep awake for feeds,” Dawn said.

The Harpers looked for answers but could find none, deepening their fears. Then serious news came from Wyatt’s pediatrician. Wyatt had a genetic disorder called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH).

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