Rabbit Air customers Ann Hochstetler and her husband, Thad, live in Indiana with their four adopted children, ranging in ages four to fifteen years old. The couple decided when they got married that they would adopt a family and they would “never do it any differently,” Ann says.
One child is from Indiana, two are from Kazakhstan, and one is from China, and the family enjoys celebrating Kazakh’s spring holiday and Chinese New Year and learning and teaching the family about their cultures. Together, the six of them spend time outdoors when the weather permits, riding bikes and swimming. When the winter drives them indoors, the kids pass the time playing board games, building with Legos, tending to their pet guinea pigs, and practicing tae kwon do. Three of the children have special needs, including autism, microcephaly, and cerebral palsy, so a lot of the family’s time is focused on health. One of their kids, Karson, has suffered from a number of respiratory issues, including asthma, and two of the other children suffer from allergies as well. Karson’s breathing difficulties had landed him in the ER and required him to take five to seven pills a day to improve his quality of life. To help alleviate the family’s discomfort, their pulmonologist recommended trying Rabbit Air purifiers. After adding the filtration systems to their home, Ann says, Karson’s breathing improved and he was able to stop taking medication for his respiratory health. “It’s incredible,” she says, noting that the family’s comfort indoors has greatly improved thanks to Rabbit Air’s filtration. Even in a seemingly clean and smoke-free home—the family uses only non-toxic cleaners and avoids fragrances to spare their middle son the nosebleeds he gets from them—Rabbit Air purifiers can help by targeting allergens and contaminants, as well as dust and other irritants that are particularly harmful to those with sensitive and compromised immune systems.
Ann and Thad’s family, though faced with many challenges, is perhaps even stronger because of them. Being an advocate for her kids is “part of my identity,” Ann says, reflecting on her life as a parent. “I didn’t ever believe I’d had the strength for this, but because they needed us and they needed us to be strong...we were able to do that.” Special needs parenting, and a marriage, takes a lot of commitment, Ann admits, but what matters is that “we love each other, in spite of it being really difficult sometimes.”
