Adam Hunter details how he survived being impaled by a tree, diabetes, cancer and the death of his brother
This was the a horror moment when an Aussie man was frantically trying to push his intestines back inside his body.
Sunshine Coast
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Staring down at his stomach an 11-year-old Adam Hunter tries frantically to push his intestines back into his body.
It was just a few days until Christmas in his hometown of Dromana, Victoria and Hunter had been impaled by a tree branch after swinging on a rope with his cousin Michael and friend Darryl.
Incredibly the now 41-year-old Caloundra Panthers senior men’s coach and AFL over 40s Masters representative survived but it was just the first in a list of unimaginable trauma he has had to face in life.
A battle against diabetes and cancer and the death of his brother were to follow his initial accident.
“The way that I went I got impaled by a branch that went just about right through me, only just missed my spine and my main arteries,” Hunter, a father of three, said.
The branch was 50 millimetres in diameter and punctured his lung, severed his liver, ruptured his spleen and broke numerous ribs.
“I hit the ground and lookeddown to see my intestines pouring out so I caught them in my hand and tried to push them back in my guts,” he said.
“Michael ran to go and get my mum which was about 2km away while Darryl helped me out of the ravine.
“Mum saw me and nearly fainted before I was rushed to hospital for surgery.
“The doctors said I was pretty lucky in the way that the branch went in to narrowly miss my spine and main arteries by millimetres.
“That tried to slow me for a little bit but that’s pretty hard to do if you know me.”
‘I hated sitting there and doing nothing’
As a teenager Hunter was now playing first grade footy for Mornington and after finishing second during the 2002 season, his side earned the week off for the first round of finals.
“No game so we went out and had a good time but by Sunday night I couldn’t stop going to the toilet and I was really thirsty,” he said.
“I kept drinking and drinking but kept having to go to the toilet and it got to the point where I wet the bed because I was so tired and couldn’t stay awake but I was so thirsty and kept needing to pee.”
He said a conversation with a work mate prompted him to visit the doctors.
“I went that afternoon and they found my blood sugar was extremely high and diagnosed me with type one diabetes,” he said.
“I spent about a week in hospital just getting myself right but I hated sitting there and doing nothing.
“I started to think back to when I got impaled by the stick and all that was running through my head was how can I get out and how can I get back to playing footy.
“I was just thinking positive and doing everything the doctors told me to do with 100 per cent effort.”
Hunter returned for the finals series, lifting his side to the preliminary final weeks later.
‘He just never came home’
During the 2004 season, Hunter was 21-years-old playing for the Frankston Dolphins in the VFL.
On a random Thursday night he received a heart wrenching call from his father informing him that his younger brother Matthew had been in a fatal car accident.
“I woke up to my phone ringing at midnight with dad telling me to come home as Matt, who was only 18 at the time, had been in a bad accident when he was driving home from work,” he said.
“It was pretty hard to believe because we still shared a room at home during that time but he just never came home.
“The next morning myself, my uncle, dad, brother and cousin went to go and identify the body.
“It was a horrible thing to have to do and was a horrible time for our family.”
Hunter said he and his family supported each other.
“We’re a pretty tight family as is, but that brought us closer,” he said.
“Frankston actually gave me clearance to go back and play for Dromana that week to play in his honour.
“It took me a while to get back into my daily routine but I’m thankful for the support we had around us.”
‘My main worry was telling her and the girls’
Almost 10 years later, Hunter was 30-years-old, playing for Dromana and well known as ‘the man of the competition’ after winning successive league best and fairest medals in 2006 and 2007 and being named in the All-Australian Country side in 2008.
After falling short the year before, the Tigers were able to lift the premiership in 2013, their first piece of silverware since 1971.
Hunter was on top of the world until he started getting some serious stomach pains.
“I had suffered a ruptured spleen in the finals in 2012 which wasn’t fun but I never thought it was that same pain again,” he said.
“It’s stupid to say and to think back on now but I just thought those pains was my body getting old.
“I went to the doctors but they kept passing it as other things so I was just pushing my body to get through it, the worse the pain got the harder I would work or train.”
That was until his wife Carli insisted he got a colonoscopy.
“Nothing had come up on the scans prior but my old man drove me to get a colonoscopy and when I woke up from that they told me I had bowel cancer,” he said.
“My dad is someone that loves to talk but neither of us said a word the whole way home and the main feeling was worry for me.
“Carli and I had only recently had our third child so we had a four-year-old, a three-year-old and a six-month old and my main worry was telling her and the girls.”
Hunter said he went to the specialist soon after before having surgery a few weeks later.
“When I woke up from surgery Carli was crying really heavily and I didn’t really know what was going on,” he said.
“I ended up finding out that the surgeon went in for the keyhole surgery but realised my bowels were entirely blocked and the cancer had left my bowel and wrapped around my urethra cords and my organs in my stomach.
“I had a colostomy bag hanging from my stomach and after they told me everything they just left it at that.
“Like everything I just kept telling myself, how can I get through this.”
Hunter said it was a difficult period but seeing his kids visit while his wife Carli ‘held down the fort’ was amazing.
He later underwent chemotherapy and radiation for a further three months before the cancer shrunk and he had a section of his bowel cut out.
“I was lucky because my colon had just enough left on it that it could be rejoined to my bowels and intestines,” he said.
“Doctors told Carli and I that if we had of waited a week or even just a few days longer before going to see someone it would’ve been too far gone.
“I ended up having more chemotherapy for six months and the bag stayed on to let it heal.”
He said another sad point was hearing the news of his high-school friend’s death.
“A guy I grew up with came to visit me and mentioned he was going through the same thing and I pushed him to get checked out,” he said.
“He did but unfortunately three or four months later he passed away.”
Hunter had the bag reversal in August 2014 but suffered another setback just days later.
“I still loved my footy obviously, watching, listening wherever I could so I was watching Dromana play in the finals and me being stupid I was walking around to see the quarter time huddle but couldn’t find a gate to get onto the field,” he said.
“I jumped the fence but when I landed I heard a pop and was in all sorts of pain that night.
“Doctors said I had popped my intestine where it had joined back up so I had to get a fistula which put me in hospital for another month.
“It was really painful and horrible but I had the operation, got myself fixed up and really looked after myself after that.
“Carli just didn’t know what to do but everyday I just kept doing stuff, kept trying to live and enjoy stuff because you don’t know when you’ll be gone.”
By May 2015 doctors found the cancer had spread to his liver.
“It was good in the sense that I never had to do chemotherapy again because the chemo didn’t work but it was bad in the sense I had to have half my liver removed,” he said
Hunter made another stunning return to the Dromana Tigers in 2016 where he played a further two seasons before moving to Red Hill.
Hunter was a reserves player there but his main focus was as senior assistant coach in a side that won the premiership in 2019.
‘It made everything quite surreal’
In 2022 the Hunter family relocated from Victoria to the Sunshine Coast.
At 40-years-old and currently cancer free, Hunter pulled on a Caloundra Panthers jersey where he represented the first and second grade side on numerous occasions.
That led to Hunter taking part in the AFL Masters carnival for the Men’s Over-40s Queensland side.
“Coming from local footy, the National carnival was my first proper time in that environment so I just went to have a kick,” he said.
“I got named vice-captain, had a pretty good carnival and our team went well which made it easier.”
Soon after Hunter received what he thought was a prank phone call informing him of his selection in the Australian side.
“I thought it was a joke saying I had the chance to go on a footy tour to England and Ireland but once I understood it, it made everything quite surreal,” he said.
Three time AFL premiership player and brownlow medallist Jason Akermanis was the coach of the side and named Hunter as team captain.
“I was over the moon,” he said.
“To get to play for Queensland and then Australia is very special but to then be named captain under a footy legend, it was incredible.”
The teams competed in a two match International Rules series for the Paddy Gaffney Cup against Ireland followed by an AFL test match against England.
“It was raining sideways in both games, the grounds were horribly muddy, it was absolutely freezing and the way that Ireland moved the ball and used the ball was phenomenal,” he said.
“It was hard for us because we hadn’t practiced as a full team often so we went down by 30 in the first match and maybe 60 odd in the second.”
Hunter was named best on ground in the first game before the side travelled to England for their third fixture against Great Britain.
“Some people on the tour had travelled home so we played a mixed side of 40s and 50s while our opposition were 35 and 45-year-olds,” he said.
“The grounds over there are just in parks where they put up goalposts so it had to be one of the worst fields I’ve played on but it was still heaps of fun and we drew that match.”
Hunter was again named best on ground and later announced as his side’s player of the series.
“I was blown away, the only bad thing is that I had to carry around a massive trophy for the rest of the trip,” he said with a laugh.
“I would definitely do it again, it’s been the absolute highlight of my footy career,” he said.
“I’ve won some things and done some stuff in my playing career but for a sport that’s basically just played in Australia, to get the opportunity to go overseas and represent your country is a huge honour.
“Moving up here I thought my footy career was well and truly done, I only joined the club to make some friends but the next thing I know I’m captaining Australia in Ireland.”
‘I have been through some sh*t but...’
The now 41-year-old and keen Richmond Tigers supporter is Caloundra’s senior head coach for 2024 and is still having a kick in the club’s third grade side.
He said he hoped his story could inspire others.
“Through everything I went through and still may go through I look at it as how do I get through what can I do to improve,” he said.
“You get a bit older and a bit sick but you can still enjoy life and enjoy what’s still to come.
“I have been through some sh*t but I still live my life to the fullest because there’s always opportunities to keep going and to keep enjoying life.
“I’ve got a beautiful wife Carli, three amazing girls in Milli (14), Isabel (13) and Sophie (11) and I’m just looking forward.
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