Dad's marathon inspired by son's spina bifida challenge
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Hunter Ehnstrom's face is one of pure inspiration.
Hunter turned one year old in September, but his story of overcoming a challenge goes back before he was born.
During his mother's pregnancy, doctors discovered Hunter had spina bifida, which usually means the person affected will never have use of their lower extremities.
But doctors performed an amazing fetal surgery.
They removed him from his mom's womb before birth to correct the condition, then placed him back for the rest of the pregnancy.
It's a true medical miracle, and today Hunter is on the move.
"We're very fortunate that he does have full movement all the way down to his toes," said Rebecca Ehnstrom.
It's clear that both Hunter and his big brother, Austin, are loving bundles of joy.
Watching all of his son's struggles, Bryan Ehnstrom decided to take on a challenge of his own: running the TCS NYC Marathon.
"To me it was like, if he can handle all that, why can't I handle 26.2 miles?" he said.
"Having the boys and Hunter as his inspiration of it, I just want to stand by him and support him for it," said Rebecca.
Bryan's passion for running and his love of family has inspired his students to get on the move at the Hudson County schools of technology.
"I actually want to go to the marathon and support him," said student Alexandra Roque. "We were thinking about having all of the runner's club go over there and support him."
"I appreciate the fact that he's actually taking the time out of his day to still give his best level to us as a teacher," said Omar Salgado, another student.
Bryan says he keeps his family in mind while running.
"In my head I just kept saying, 'Hunter. Spina bifida.' Like, what he's going through is so much harder than anything I'm doing. Hunter and Austin are the two happiest kids that I know. I love them so much."
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