MiddletownJournal.com

DAYTON — Dustin Carter has always stood tall, even though the 19-year-old competitive wrestler lost his legs when he was five.

Now Carter can literally stand tall. He picked up a new pair of prosthetic legs Wednesday at OrPro Prosthetics & Orthotics, and now he'll stand at about 6 feet when he walks across the campus of the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati.

"They're going to take some getting used to," Carter said. "I'll probably keep crawling mostly until the end of wrestling season. Crawling helps keep me in shape."

Carter received national attention in March when he competed in the state wrestling tournament while a senior at Hillsboro High School. Now he wrestles for Mount St. Joseph, a Division III college program.

Carter has had prosthetic legs before, but his last pair malfunctioned and he has gone without for more than a year. He's been working with prosthetic specialist Vikram Choudhary since fall to be fitted with a new set of legs.

His first attempts to walk on the legs was shaky Wednesday morning, but within half an hour of practice and minor adjustments he was beginning to walk confidently.

His father Russ Carter said that reflects the way Dustin Carter has approached life since his arms and legs were amputated due to a meningitis and gangrene infection when he was five.

"He doesn't let things slow him down," Russ Carter said. "Whatever adjustment has to be made, he makes it."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2395 or jcummings@DaytonDailyNews.com.