For Rich and Caitlin Hill, the decision to launch a “Field of Genes’’ campaign with a $575,000 donation to support research on rare and undiagnosed genetic diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children stems from the waves of shock and confusion that confronted them five years ago.
When Brooks Hill was born at Massachusetts General Hospital on December 26, 2013, Caitlin Hill immediately knew that something was wrong. The boy’s mother, a registered nurse, recognized a “delicate energy’’ in the delivery room.
Brooks didn’t cry without stimulation. He had cortical thumbs folded into his hands and contracted legs and arms.