Hawke’s Bay rugby player Hunter Donghi diagnosed with liver cancer

Hunter Donghi, a talented rugby player with a strong work ethic was diagnosed with stage four cancer days before Christmas. Photo / Supplied

A talented young Hawke’s Bay rugby player and award-winning construction worker has been diagnosed with stage four liver cancer suspected to have been caused by a rare gene mutation.

Hunter Donghi’s family have been thrown into turmoil after his diagnosis, which came just before Christmas.

It’s left them fighting not just to save their much-loved son and brother, but dealing with the uncertainty of not knowing if they also have the gene mutation.

Friends, extended family and the Hawke’s Bay rugby community have rallied around Hunter, 20, in a bid to quickly raise $70,000 for his treatment.

Within the first 24 hours of a Givealittle page for Hunter being created on Wednesday, more than $25,000 had been raised from more than 200 donors.

The Givealittle page describes Hunter as a “kind, warm and witty” young man with a “strong work ethic”.

Hunter’s mother Kylee Bryan-Martin told Hawke’s Bay Today her son needs a drug called pembrolizumab, known as Keytruda, which is unfunded by Pharmac but his doctor had seen success with in the past.

For the past few days Hunter has been in hospital fighting an infection and two tumours in his liver continue to grow.

Hunter’s second cousin Haley Wise said one of his tumours had grown 1cm in the past week, and an operation is out of the question until they have shrunk.

“We need this treatment yesterday,” Wise said.

Hunter had a pre-operation procedure today in preparation for stents that should be put in tomorrow.

The stents will be inserted through the skin and into the bile ducts, which are a series of thin tubes that go from the liver to the small intestine.

“Having the stents put in is a good sign because Hunter should be able to start his treatment next Tuesday,” his mother said.

Hunter Donghi, then 11, featured in the Hawke’s Bay Today for taking photos during a 2012 school holiday programme. Photo / Paul Taylor

Just a month before his diagnosis, it appeared Hunter would end 2021 on a massive high.

He had completed his apprenticeship at Fulton Hogan, and was then awarded the Connexis Apprentice of the Year at the Civil Contractors New Zealand Hawke’s Bay East Coast Hirepool Construction Excellence Awards in Hastings.

Hunter has been playing rugby from a young age.

A loose forward, he played for Napier in the Ross Shield in Wairoa in 2014.

Then Napier head coach Kerry Lewis said he hand-picked Hunter for the team because of his determination and his “never say die attitude”.

His current rugby team and club, Napier Technical Sports Club has arranged a quiz night fundraiser followed by an auction on Saturday, January 15, at the Tech Club rooms.

Friends are also organising hāngī meals to sell as a fundraiser.

Hunter and his older brothers Logan and Jordan, and Hunter’s twin Boston lost their dad at age 35 to a cancer that doctors believed was caused by a mutated gene.

“It destroyed them but what got them through was the bond and love they had for each other alongside the support of their mum,” Wise said.

Bryan-Martin said she was told by doctors that her sons would all need scans at age 25, “to make sure they didn’t have the same thing as their father”.

Hunter’s brothers were now organising scans, with Boston awaiting his results.

To donate go to: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/hunters-story?fbclid=IwAR3jJdIL0M1jJF8f4WkIBNOYX28Zl2OMpzlnHJJGAF_F00_5wiFfDWQGlDw