Five years ago, the Indiana resident and Army vet became one of the first people in the world to receive a face transplant.
He worries these days about the length of his facial hair.
"When I touch the beard, I can also feel the sensation under the skin, "Hot, cold, pain, tickle, rubbing my beard, someone kissing my face, I can feel everything." He said.
Hunter was shocked by a high-voltage wire as he helped to save a woman following a 2001 crash in North Carolina. The incident cost Hunter a leg and left his face horrifically disfigured, even after dozens of skin grafts.
Following the accident, Hunter struggled to lead a normal life.
"Imagine walking into a room and like falling, and everybody noticing," he said in the interview. "That's how it was every time I walked in a room because of the way my face looked."
He underwent a 14-hour surgery in April 2011 that gave him eyelids, a nose, nerves and facial animation muscles. His new face had come from an anonymous donor.
Hunter now has a full-time job and enjoys taking his son to the movies.
“I feel great,” he said.
He’s proud of the obstacles he’s overcome.
"I look back on it as something that made me stronger, "I mean, yeah, I'd like to have my leg and my face back, but without that happening I wouldn't be who I am today."
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