GEORGE HUNT l 2025 Courage to Shine Award l July 26, 2025

2025 Courage to Shine l Lisha Martinez & Adam Young I Award l George Hunt III l July 26, 2025 - https://courage-to-shine.org/

More at: https://courage-to-shine.org/2025/08/10/2025-courage-to-shine-george-hunt-iiis-inspiring-journey/

Courage to Shine™
Thomas Exler, Founder & Chairman

Association for the Bladder Exstrophy Community (A-BE-C)
Pamela Artigas, President & Executive Director
Thomas Exler, Vice President

Courage to Shine™
Lisha Martinez & Adam Young Award

By George Hunt

I was born in 1977 on an Air Force base in Oklahoma—one of four babies diagnosed with bladder exstrophy that same week. Back then, no one knew what that meant, and certainly not how to treat it. Thankfully, my parents found their way to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. That journey saved my life.

Like many exstrophy patients, I also had epispadias and pelvic separation. The doctors did what they could to keep me alive, and—thank God—they didn’t make things worse. They got me to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. My parents were twenty years old and terrified. Instead of celebrating their first child, they were grieving the future they thought we’d have. But time has a funny way of working things out. And we were exactly where we needed to be.

I had multiple surgeries as an infant, and though some were successful—including the initial bladder closure—others, like bladder neck reconstruction, didn’t work as hoped. I wore diapers until age ten and tried various urostomy setups, but I hated them. They made it nearly impossible to play sports or be active like other kids. Diapers, though inconvenient, gave me more freedom.

Eventually, I was introduced to Dr. Robert Kay. A remarkable man. He treated me like I was his only patient and guided my father through the darkest times. When he moved to the Cleveland Clinic, we followed him. I’ll never forget when he said, “Georgie, I think we found a solution—no more bags, no more diapers.”

The plan was to reroute my ureters to my bowel. I was only ten, and the decision rested mostly with my dad, but I always felt included. After the procedure, everything that came out of me was liquid. It was a strange adjustment. The upside? I could play sports again—basketball, baseball, swimming, wrestling. I could just be a kid. The downside? Blowouts. With everything passing through the same exit, accidents happened. A disciplined diet and routine helped, but let’s be honest—what ten-year-old is great at routines?

School was rough. Kids can be cruel, even when they don’t mean to be. Their words cut deeper than any scalpel. I wish I could go back and tell that boy it was going to be okay. That he’d thrive. That the trials and tribulations he would endure would create the foundation of the man he would become. But at the time, it felt lonely and overwhelming.

More at: https://courage-to-shine.org/2025/08/10/2025-courage-to-shine-george-hunt-iiis-inspiring-journey/

Courage To Shine™, Turning Adversity to Triumph,

Courage to Shine™ was founded to acknowledge, motivational and inspirational individuals and/or groups of patients whom have overcome congenital genitourinary birth-defects and/or major urological surgeries in their childhood (but not limited too), and have the courage, strength and determination, to transform that adversity to triumph later in life.

Courage To Shine: http://www.courage-to-shine.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/couragetoshine/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Couragetoshine1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CourageToShine

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