Just 36 hours after his youngest son Austin was born, doctors at Dunedin Hospital called Mr Hunter to tell him his baby boy was struggling to breathe and his condition was deteriorating quickly.
Austin needed to be flown to Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland, where they had the equipment to keep him alive.
"They said if he flies up, he might not make it; but if he stays here, we’re pretty sure he won’t make it at all.
"I was in shock. I felt lost and powerless.
"You just sort of go into fight or flight mode."
Tasked with making the difficult decision about whether to fly or not, he said in the end, there was really only one choice.
"He definitely wouldn’t have made it if we stayed."
He said his wife Nicole was still in Dunedin Hospital, recovering from an emergency Caesarean section, so Mr Hunter flew to Auckland with Austin.
Doctors diagnosed him with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), which occurs when a newborn’s circulation system fails to adapt to breathing outside the womb.
Austin was put on a machine that does the job of the heart and lungs for him, for about eight days.
He remained at Starship for about five weeks until he was well enough to return home to Dunedin.
Mr Hunter was grateful to the staff for all of their help.
"Starship were really honest with what was going on — it wasn’t sugar-coated.
"But they were also really supportive."
Nine months later, Austin is a "normal, happy, cheerful" little boy.
And now, Mr Hunter has the power to turn the adverse event into something positive.
He is running the Dunedin half marathon tomorrow to raise about $1000 for the Starship National Air Ambulance which flew Austin to Auckland.
It comes after he raised about $6500 for Ronald McDonald House earlier this year, which is where the Hunter family stayed while Austin was in hospital.
"This is our way of turning a horrible situation into something worthwhile."
As for whether he plans to make fundraising for Starship an annual event, he said: "That all depends on how well my body holds up".
