On Tuesday, November 14, 2017, Carter John Harrison entered this world surrounded by his “tribe”, which today is known as “Carter’s Tribe”. Carter was immediately sent to the Studer Family Children’s Hospital NICU after birth due to several medical complications that were not known prior to birth. From that moment, Carter’s champion medical journey began. Carter spent the first three months of his life in a hospital. He had his first of several open-heart surgeries at only twenty-eight days old and would need life-support due to complications from the surgery. Carter fought to live and thankfully would come off life support several days later. His congenital heart defect diagnosis, Tetralogy of Fallot, would be the first of many diagnoses for Carter along his medical journey. After a Genome Sequence Study was done through the Children’s Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham, the Harrison family would soon find out that Carter was a very rare kiddo. So rare that only twenty other people in the entire world would have the same rare syndrome that he was diagnosed with, Takenochi-Kosaki Syndrome. The Harrison family received this diagnosis just days before Carter’s first birthday. Takenouchi-Kosaki Syndrome affects multiple body systems and organs and has presented quite a difficult journey for Carter. Carter has had several major and minor surgeries due to the effect of this rare syndrome on his body. Carter had his spleen removed due to cancerous lesions and because of this, Carter’s immune system is very compromised. Carter receives all his nutrition through a feeding tube in his stomach due to not being able to eat orally. Carter’s hearing and vision are both compromised, and he wears glasses and hearing aids to help him hear and see. A common cold such as the “rhino virus” has caused dozens of hospital admissions. Because of how rare this syndrome is, Carter requires extensive medical care that is local to his home in Pensacola, Birmingham, and as far as Philadelphia. Carter has overcome so much in his short five years of life. The doctors told the Harrison family that Carter will probably never walk or talk on his own but because of the determination of Carter and his tribe, and with the help of his doctors and therapists, Carter is beating the odds and surpassing all expectations! Carter’s mom, Meredith, has become Carter’s full-time caregiver, taking him to several therapies weekly- physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and feeding therapy, and taking him to all his doctor’s appointments around the country. Carter currently sees over twenty different specialists. Because of this, Meredith can no longer work outside of the home which has affected the Harrison’s financial situation greatly. At the time of his birth, Carter’s mom Meredith was working as a teacher at a local private elementary school and his dad Dennis was working as a UPS driver and serving in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. Carter’s Mom had to leave her job as a teacher very abruptly and become Carter’s caregiver. This left them with only one income and medical bills constantly coming in. As you can imagine, having a child with this big of a medical journey can cause stress on finances. Insurance covers what it can, but there is still an outstanding balance of what is not covered. God has greatly provided for the Harrison family since Carter was born, but they are now at a point where they cannot keep up. They were hoping that after filing for bankruptcy in March of 2024 things would ease up; but, the finances are still not adding up and the Harrison family is now at a point where they are going to have to sell their house very soon to help with the constant medical expenses. Since buying their house in 2024, their house payment has consistently increased due to property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. Family members have stepped in to help on a regular basis. Recently they discussed selling the house and moving into an apartment to ease this financial stress. We would like to relieve this burden on Meredith and Dennis, and other family members. We are praying for their house to be paid off! They owe approximately $220,000 and anything you feel led by God to give will be used for this purpose. Dennis, Meredith, Carter, and Mia have all overcome so much as a family and we want them to be able to keep their house. We hope that you are touched by reading Carter’s story and feel a part of his “tribe”. Any donation will greatly impact the Harrison family and Carter!
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