When you think that there is something you would like to do, but don't think you can just watch this young man, Dustin Carter. At 5 years old he had all limbs amputated. He wrestles for Hillsboro high school here in south western Ohio. here is a link if you would like to see him wrestle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvxc8S5ybS4

I've been asked to share my story. So here we go. March 1st 2006 at about 9:30 pm my pistol discharged as I was trying to remove a round that didn't properly eject from my XD-9. At this point I thought," no big deal, the bullet went right through." I couldn't have been more wrong. The bullet "tumbled" down through my leg and exited my calf. During its journey the bullet destroyed about 12 inches of my femoral artery and the nerves tucked away behind my knee. Sharon called 911. This is where God helped me out. The paramedics of my little village just happened to be at a meeting at the fire house 3 blocks from my house. They arrived within 5 minutes of the call. The paramedics began to assess the extent of my injury and quickly summoned Care Flight. The helicopter was already in the air after being called off of a fatality accident. Transportation arrived at 9:45 pm. By 10:00 I was at the hospital emergency room. At 10:10 I remember seeing my vision cloud and the last thing I remember was the clock on the wall. By this point I had lost about 2 liters of blood. Many things happened over the next 2 days none of which I remember. My wife had to make the decision to amputate my leg. Friday afternoon the doctors did what had to be done. At approximately 2:00 am March 3rd, Saturday morning, I woke up for the first time fully coherent. This was the point that I found out that my leg had been amputated. Alone in my room I woke up in pain. Not screaming pain but there is something wrong with my leg pain. I turned on the light and pulled back the covers to see an incredibly swollen stub all wrapped up in wound dressing and gauze. It was the most depressing moment of my entire life. I spent about 2 hour in self pity wondering how I was going to be able to go on and provide for my family. At that point I made the decision that I would not give up or give in. I was in control of my life and I wasn't about to let something like this stop me or even slow me down. March 4th I told the doctors I wanted to be unhooked from the IVs. They did as I asked. I began to get myself out of bed on my crutches and take care of myself. I did push ups on the floor in the hospital to keep my strength up, which I got in trouble for by my mom. March 6th they closed up my open wounds, (which they had left open to guard against infection) and later that evening disconnected me from my IV again. I was ready to go home but they weren't ready to let me go. The people caring for me at the hospital felt that I was to upbeat. They thought it was just an act. I had to convince them that I wasn't going to get home and blow my brains out. I went home March 9th. The pain was horrible for the first 3 or 4 weeks but me and vicoden got along just fine. On April 18, the day before my 37th birthday, I took my first steps with my test socket. April 29 I took my leg home. After 8 of the 22 rehab appointments, Jim my PT guy told me he couldn,t do any more for me. I went back to work June 3rd, light duty, but it wasn't long before things where near normal as can be. I helped coach my sons football team. Now here we are today. I'm happy and have some good new friends. I'm a test patient for a prosthetic company. I'm trying to design a new foot. I have started my own electrical contractor business with my brother and 1 good friend. Things are good. I feel that I got off easy compared to some people. I didn't have the pain and emotional hardship leading up to my amputation. The gunshot didn't really hurt. The most painful part about it was the position I put Sharon in to have to make the decision to amputate.