CINCINNATI — Eight-month-old Hudson Coombs has had a hard start to life.
"He was actually born at home on the couch with paramedics because he didn't want to wait," his dad Keith said.
We talked with Keith outside Cincinnati Children's Hospital, where Coombs has spent half of his young life.
Keith said his son was just like any other baby for about 15 hours. Nobody knew he had congenital heart disease.
"By that evening we were in the NICU at Good Sam," Keith said. "By the next day, we're coming to Children's. By that evening, we're in the CICU at Children's."
Hudson had undergone heart surgery, a biventricular repair according to his dad and they believe Hudson's heart problems can be traced back to a rare genetic abnormality called Weiss-Kruszka Syndrome.
Less than one in a million people are diagnosed with Weiss-Kruszka Syndrome according to Orphanet.net.
"It's been hard not being able to all be home together as a family," Keith said.
Adding to the stress of largely living out of a hospital, Keith said his business, The Fix Coffee House and Bar on McMillan, has been burglarized five times in recent memory including once two weeks ago.
This happened as his wife Liz took unpaid medical leave from her job at P&G and bills piled up.
Their friends contacted WCPO because it was too much and they wanted to help.
"They are wonderful people," said Madison Meredith-Perisco. "I mean, they are so quick to say, hey, what can I do to help?"
Meredith-Perisco and others have organized a fundraiser for the Coombs family at their second The Fix location on Madison Road 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
"I'll be doing hair wraps, so if anyone wants a hair wrap, I'll be doing that," Meredith-Perisco said.
There will also be raffles, face paint, carnival balloons, food, drink and more.
Perisco called on as many people as possible to help the Coombs family and, specifically, Hudson, a baby with a lot of love behind him.
"One day I hope that's something I can repay to our friends and family, our community at large in some capacity," Keith said. "Though, I'm not sure it will ever be enough."
Those who can't attend the fund raiser can help the family through a GoFundMe account, and there is an online auction on the event's Facebook page.
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