​Teenager Has Prosthetic Legs Stolen From School Gym

A teenager in California has had his prosthetic legs stolen, meaning his high school wrestling career is now in jeopardy.

Brett Winters is a senior at Pacific High School in San Bernadino, and was set to become the captain of his high school team this year.

The only thing is, he's also a double amputee who's just had his prosthetic legs cruelly stolen, meaning his promising future in wrestling is currently on hold.

Winters was born without tibia bones, and had to have the limbs amputated when he was just eight months old.

ABC

His mother had been given a difficult choice, and was forced to decide whether or not to remove her son's legs - knowing that, if she didn't, he'd spend his life in a wheelchair.

Brett Winters told ABC News' Los Angeles station KABC: "I was amputated at 8-and-a-half months old and I got my first set of legs at 10-and-a-half months old."

Winters now uses different pairs of legs depending on what activity he's doing, and has a set he uses specifically for wrestling.

These are the legs that sadly vanished.

Winters explained he's tried practising without his wrestling legs after they went missing, but said doing so leave him in a great deal of pain.

He said: "Right now, practising? It hurts to even practice."

ABC

This year would have been Winters' last opportunity to win a state championship, or even to just compete in his final year at high school.

The teen continued: "I was planning on going to CIF this year again or possible state championships and winning it all, but I can't because my wrestling legs are gone.

"Out of all my sports that I did at Pacific High School, this was the one sport that I could actually do and this was the one sport that I was able to do very well."

One of Winters' prosthetic legs was recovered, but unfortunately the other is still missing.

The San Bernardino City Unified School District has offered to replace Winterse legs, but as the fitting process is lengthy and not straightforward, it's possible that they won't arrive this season.

Winters added: "I don't know if I am wrestling at all this year."

Topics: News, US News

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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