By Tom Archdeacon
LONDON, Ohio ” On what so far was the biggest day of his high school life, Dustin Carter woke up with the flu and all the diarrhea and dehydration that comes with it.
Worried about the consequences (he was wrestling in the 103-pound weight class of the South Central Ohio League tournament), the Hillsboro High senior captain found a bottle of Imodium in the medicine chest, didn’t read the warnings and wolfed down three times the prescribed dosage.
That cured one problem, but left him with a severe stomach ache.
Then there were the nerves when he got to the meet at Madison Plains High School on Saturday morning.
Even so, he handled his first two opponents, then slipped into the dressing room for a quick “power nap “as he called it.
As he bounced around the mat before meeting Miami Trace’s Keaton Webb in the final, he said he felt fine and had “no problems.”
Well, unless you count having no legs, no hands and no forearms.
Then again, to Carter that isn’t a problem.
“Instead of obstacles, he sees opportunities, “said Hillsboro High principal Rick Early. “Where somebody else sees a setback, he finds a way for success.”
To that, Carter shrugs: “Just don’t look at me like I’m different. I’ve always looked at myself as the same as everybody else.”
But when it comes to wrestling this season, that’s not true at all. He’s not the same as everybody. He’s better.
In outpointing Webb 12-5 to win the title, Carter raised his record to 32-1. Likely, his No. 9 ranking in the state by the Brakeman Report, the bible of Ohio prep wrestling, will go up, too.
Here in the Miami Valley this season, he won the Lebanon, Troy and Bellbrook invitational tournaments and beat seven of his eight opponents in the prestigious Greater Miami Valley Wrestling Association Holiday Invitational at Vandalia.
As for the three guys he defeated Saturday, each was impressed.
“I give him a lot of credit, “said Webb, who lost to him for the second time this season. “It takes a lot of heart for him to do what he’s doing.”
Josh Thomas, the 15-year-old freshman who was pinned by Carter, nodded: “He’s just an amazing story.”
And Thomas, like most folks in the Madison Plains gym, didn’t know the half of it. Didn’t know about the healthy little boy getting deathly sick or how medical teams brought him back from the dead several times. Didn’t know how “Dusty is a true miracle, “as Lori, his mom, explains it, or of the 32 surgeries she said he’s had.
That’s why Russ Carter, Dustin’s dad who works at the GM truck and bus plant in Moraine, was beaming as he videotaped the match Saturday and why Dustin’s grandparents ” Dave and Linda Carter of Miamisburg ” had eyes glistening with tears as their grandson’s stub of an arm was raised in victory.
Yet, it was Alex Nedved, the Clinton Massie freshman outpointed in the second match, who put it most earnestly afterward: “Doing what he’s doing, to me that’s a pretty phenomenal guy.”
Blood disorder strikes
Russ Carter said by the summer of 1994, his 5-year-old son already was an athlete: “He was a good little T-ball player, swam like a fish, was getting into soccer and loved to run.”
Ex-wife Lori, who now lives in Franklin, said along with the skills, Dustin had some attitude.
“He always was strong-willed and determined and pretty rambunctious, “she said with a laugh. “And all that used to get him in a lot of trouble. But now, knowing what he had to go through, thank God he had that spunk.”
Out of the blue one day, Dustin had trouble breathing. His skin began to splotch red and pink, his body began to swell and his temperature soared to 104 degrees. Rushed to the hospital in Middletown, his body was packed in ice, but soon ” delirious, dying ” he was airlifted to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
“They actually lost him a few times on the way and managed to bring him back, “Russ said.
Dustin was diagnosed with a rare blood infection known as meningococcemia, the same bacteria that causes meningitis and is fatal in many youngsters.
“His body had swollen up three times its size, “said Dave Carter. “Blood was coming out all his pores, his nose and ears. You could see his limbs going from gray to black. They said he probably wouldn’t live until morning.”
That’s when a chorus of prayers, skilled doctors and a little boy’s spirit combined to make that miracle. Although his limbs were amputated, Dustin survived.
“The thing that kept us all going was that for everything he lost, inside we knew he still was our Dusty, “Lori said
Strong-willed, determined, rambunctious.
Linda saw that first-hand when Dustin ” living with her and her husband as a Miamisburg fifth-grader ” struggled on his prosthetic legs one morning as he made his way down their sloped road to the school bus:
“He didn’t know I was watching him. He fell, got up, fell again and got up. The third time he went down, I ran out there and he said, ‘Grandma, nothing big. It’s just me being Dusty. You can go right back in the house now.’ ”
Dustin ” who leaves his legs in the bleachers when he wrestles ” laughs at those old tales: “Oh yeah, I’ve fallen a lot. But biting the dust a few times doesn’t stop me.”
Very little does.
Each night before he goes to bed, it takes him some 15 minutes to pull a fresh pair of pants onto the legs, slide on the belt and button up the fly. He used to wear electronic-powered arms, but got rid of them: “I can do way better without them.”
And who’s to argue? Russ said his son does everything from laundry to washing dishes and mowing the lawn.
“Any time there’s been something I couldn’t do at first, “Dustin said, “I’ve figured out a way to get it done.”
Making a state-ment?
Then came the day he decided he wanted to wrestle.
“When he told me, “Russ said, “I remember looking at him and saying, ‘How you gonna do that?’ He said, ‘I know I can do it, dad.’ ”
With the help of Brian Williamson, the junior high wrestling coach, he did do it, finishing with a winning record as an eighth-grader. And though he would dabble in freshman and junior varsity football the next three years, his heart was in wrestling.
“Everything else disappears for me when I’m out there on the mat, “he said. “It’s the best atmosphere there is, just you and the other guy, you’re both tired, and it’s who wants it. And there’s no feeling in the world like standing on (the winner’s) podium after that.”
Freshman year ” competing as a 94-pounder against 112-pounders ” there were few podium appearances, but he had winning records as a sophomore and last year until he “got injured “as he put it.
That injury actually was a little more serious than he makes out, said Hillsboro wrestling coach Nathan Horne:
“His bones keep growing, and the one in his arm pushed through the skin. He had to have surgery so they could shave it back.”
Lori said he had tried to hide it from her and his dad: “But during a match, it finally came right through his skin and there was blood everywhere. They had to stop the match.”
After the season, Dustin set his sights on this year. Over the summer, he attended several wrestling camps, lifted weights, took part in the open mat sessions at Hillsboro High and began working with a personal trainer in Cincinnati.
“My whole goal is to make it to state this year, “he said. “Everything I do in life right now is for that.”
Williamson knows a trip like that could open eyes and opportunities: “This is his make or break time. He realizes what he does in wrestling right now may be his ticket to the future.”
YouTube star is born
As he works his way through the tournament trail ” sectionals and districts are the next two weekends, and should he survive that, he would make state ” crowds like Saturday’s will be seeing that same phenomenal display that has made him a YouTube hit.
Two videos of him have been posted ” one from a wrestling match, the other from a Cincinnati workout ” and Saturday they had well over 100,000 views.
Before the family computer broke, Dustin used to check them out. He used to be able to get e-mails, too:
“Some people say I’m an inspiration to them, and I figure if it helps somebody to live through life and get up every day, I’m all for it.”
But there are some other e-mails he likes even better:
“I’ve had a couple of girls message me that I’m cute, “he said with a grin and tongue-in-cheek boast. “And it’s true. I am pretty cute.”
One girl from Covington High ” who spotted him at a match four years ago and has become something of a long-distance girlfriend ” especially seems to agree. She sees some of the same things that both Horne and Early do.
“For me, Dustin’s an inspiration, “Early said as he sat in his office the other day. “I can be having a day that’s not a whole lot of fun, and then I run into him and he brings me right back to reality. He’s just a great kid. He keeps a lot of the rest of us grounded.
“What we take for granted can be a struggle for him, and yet you never hear him complain or feel sorry for himself. He just doesn’t want anything special.”
What he does want is to one day make a college wrestling team. He’d like to go to the College of Mount St. Joseph if somehow his family can come up with the money.
“My dream is to come back to Hillsboro and be Coach Horne’s assistant coach, ” he said. “It would keep me close to the sport I love, and I could help kids get some of the same experiences I’ve had.”
And he wasn’t just talking about the victory podiums and the embrace of cheering crowds.
“Dustin’s taught all of us to accept people for who they are, “said Horne. “We’ve been together four years, and now everybody looks past his situation and never thinks about it. He’s just another one of the guys on this team.”
That’s Dustin Carter’s biggest conquest.
Those who know him best realize he is no different than them.
Well, unless they count that wrestling record and state ranking.
Those set him apart from everyone else on the team.
Wrestling Gear
