By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Ten-year-old Hunter Kilbourn was playing video games at a friend’s Antioch home on Aug. 11 when he was attacked and mauled by two pit bulls.

Hunter’s injuries were so extensive that he had to be airlifted to the University of California-Davis Trauma Center. He spent nine days in the hospital, and the bills began to mount.

Having lost portions of his head, including much of his left cheek, the young Martinez resident has had multiple surgeries — and will need more if he is to ever live a normal life, family friend and Benicia resident Aimee Marth said.

Marth, a friend of Hunter’s mother, Melody Ralls, is organizing a Benicia fundraiser for Hunter. She said she wanted to help because she knows what it’s like to be attacked by a pit bull: She suffered dog attack in March.

“I was never airlifted, but I know what the damage can be,” Marth said. “It’s traumatizing. It’s one of the most violent things you could ever experience.”

All the same, she said, “I’m kind of glad I went through it, because I’m here for Melody, which I never thought it would happen to a friend. In a way it’s kind of relieving that it happened to me, because I know it happened for a reason.”

Marth, a graduate of Benicia High School, had been living in the South Bay but moved back to Benicia after the attack. When she heard of Hunter’s ordeal, she began organizing a fundraiser for the boy.

She spoke with Jason Diavatis and his wife Natalia Diavatis, owners of The Loft Wine Bar, 280 First St., “and I asked them if it would be OK if we did this, and they were more than happy to do it.”

Paul Winders of Around Town Realty in Vallejo helped Marth organize the event, “Uncork for Hunter,” which will be at The Loft on Monday, with 20 percent of all sales from 6-10 p.m. going toward a fund for Hunter’s medical expenses.

The Union Hotel and Sailor Jacks are donating food for the evening, and there will be a raffle as well, with items donated by such businesses as Joyous Spaces and The Chill of Benicia, 10th Inning of Pinole and Skin Logic of Willow Glen.

All of the raffle proceeds will go to Hunter, Marth said.

As much as it has been uplifting to see so many come together to help Hunter, organizing the fundraiser has been emotionally challenging for Marth.

“There were days when I just thought, ‘Oh, let’s just not do it,’ because I still have my own stuff to go through,” she said.

“But I just started thinking, if Hunter can go through everything he’s gone through, all the surgeries and not knowing … if he can get through it and push through, I’m sure I can.

“He’s doing what he has to do to get better. You just take it one day at a time after something like that,” she said.

If You Go
Uncork For Hunter will take place Monday from 6 p.m. to close at The Loft Wine Bar, 280 First St. To donate items for the raffle, contact Aimee Marth at 707-656-1980 or UncorkForHunter@gmail.com.
Donations to the Hunter Kilbourn Recovery Fund can be made through Wells Fargo or PayPal under the email address 4hunter@gmail.com, and Hunter’s progress can be followed on Facebook at facebook.com/hunterkilbournsrecovery.