About Christopher’s Corner
Christopher David Dunlap is an amazing little boy. Full of love, laughter, curiosity and excitement. His sweet gentle nature will win you over quickly. His smile will melt your heart and his laughter will sing to your soul. His curiosity knows no limits, everything is interesting to him. He has a quiet intensity as he studies anything for the first time, figuring out exactly how it works and what it is all about before delving in. He notices all the little details and loves to point things out. He has a way of making you appreciate the beauty in every little thing.
He loves his dog and playing with his friends. He has always been extremely generous and easy going. Going outside to play is always on his mind. He loves playing games like peek-a-boo, the itsy bitsy spider, pat-a-cake, ring around the rosie and “I ‘m gonna get you…”. He just loves to help whether it is trying to help with unloading the dishwasher, picking up his toys, bringing you your water, unloading the dryer, bringing you toys to play with or just giving you a great big hug.
Christopher has always been very good about communicating. He started doing his first signs at just 7 months old. By 11 months he would ask to watch Baby Signing Time by using his signs. At 15 months, he understood many more signs than the 98 he used. His vocabulary was growing every day as well. He spoke 57 different words all by the time he turned 15 months.
His love of books started at such a young age. By the time he could crawl he would spend time everyday pulling out his books and looking through each and every page. As soon as he was able to walk, he would bring you a book to read to him and say”boo boo boo”. He never tired of hearing his stories. As he got older he started pointing out all that he would see and sign or speak of even the smallest thing he would notice on each page.
Christopher was taken away from us suddenly from an unknown virus. His only symptom was a fever that would come and go and did not slow him down one bit. We went to the Pediatrician’s the day before because Christopher had never been sick before, and even though everyone kept saying not to worry about his fever, we wanted to make sure he was okay. We were sent home and told because he had no other symptoms and was playing, happy, eating and drinking, and having regular diapers there was nothing to worry about. The next day was the last time we got to see our sweet little Christopher laugh and play, he was gone just hours later.
A year and half after losing our sweet little Christopher we lost his little brother Kyle in pregnancy. After researching and contacting several top specialists in the country we found out that Christopher had undiagnosed rare blood disorder called HLH. There is so little awareness of this monster of disease that it often goes undiagnosed and if left untreated is usually fatal by the age of three. Christopher was perfectly healthy and never had any type of illness until the unexplained fever with no other symptoms two days before he sided. The only treatment for HLh is Chemotherapy and steroids and the only cure and chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant. If there had been more awareness of this disease that affects 1 in 50,000 families the night Christopher became ill, he could have had a chance of survival. But it was not diagnosed in time, there is simply too little awareness of this disease.
Christopher’s time on earth was not long and he has touched the hearts of all that know him and love him. If you are moved by our dear boys beautiful life that you consider donating blood and platelets, joining the bone marrow transplant list and donating to HLH research. You could save a life of another child.Thank you for taking the time to learn about our precious Christopher David. We love and miss him every day. He brought us such tremendous joy in his short time here and we are eternally grateful for his presence in our lives.
We would like to thank all of our family and friends,all of the wonderful bereaved Mother’s at MISS and SUDC for their love and support during this difficult time. We would also like to thank Dr. Flilipovich and her associates at Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital for their help in finding an answer as to why our son was taken from us and for their tireless effort in the search for a cure for HLH.
Hey little man. Thinking of you as always. Send your mama some good signs and teach my Kennedy some more! xoxoxoxox
Thinking about you today as always Christopher. Getting ready to print the labels for the donations to Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital. I miss you Pumpkin. More than words can say. Please watch over your little sisters and keep them safe and healthy. We love you Christopher. Forever and ever.
I love you little nephew so much. I always hear your laughter and it comforts my heart. I miss you and long for the day I will hold you again. I am always sending all my love to you forever. hugs and lots of kisses.
My daughter Noelle (2 yo) checked out one of Christopher’s books from the Garden Home library today. We enjoyed seeing his picture and looking up his website. Thank you for sharing the story of your sweet child. Christopher is inspiring and delighting young readers to this day! Love from a neighbor in Garden Home.