Moms on Call founder battling stomach paralysis

ATLANTA — A woman who has dedicated her life to helping people around the globe with the transition to parenthood is now leaning on those she's helped to get through a trying time herself.

Already dealing with a genetic disorder, Laura Hunter, the pediatric nurse behind the Georgia-based parenting sensation Moms on Call, has been diagnosed with gastroparesis, or stomach paralysis.

She's headed to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota next month, but for now, the mother of five children is confined to her bed getting nutrition intravenously.

"She's Superwoman. She's got a cape on, and unfortunately now she's realizing that that cape's going to have to be temporarily retired," said Moms on Call business partner Megan Tucker. "She's teetering at about 102 pounds as of this morning."

Perhaps most difficult, Tucker said, is the fact that Hunter is powerless to do anything for herself, much less anyone else.

"We're all just telling her that there's a time and a place, and your time is to rest," Tucker said.

And that's where Hunter's fans are stepping in, sending words of encouragement through social media sites, and donating money online to pay for house cleaning and other medical related expenses.

"It's an obvious answer for us to kind of pay it back to her," said Chaffee Braithwaite of Buckhead's B. Braithwaite herself is a Moms on Call devotee.

Braithwaite said it's the least they can do for the woman whose book her customers refer to as the "child-rearing bible."

"Everyone who's heard about it says she was an angel to them, and we just want to send that back to her and support her anyway we can," Braithwaite said.

Moms on Call services are not being impacted by Laura's illness. In fact, she is still trying to take calls from her bed.

You can follow her journey through her CaringBridge site. You can find a link it, as well as the fundraising account that's been set up in her name on the Moms on Call Facebook page.

WSBTV