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Teen football player with prosthetic legs inspires community

Posted at 12:36 PM, Oct 15, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-15 12:36:07-04

KENOSHA, Wisc. — Lucas Jundt is a junior quarterback at Kenosha Indian Trail High School, in Wisconsin who just happens to have prosthetic legs.

"Since my Dad showed me football, I'm like, I'm going to play that sport!" Jundt said.

"Yeah, everybody on the team is like 'why is he getting all the fame.' And I'm like, 'sorry for having no feet. I guess they just like that type of stuff!' And it inspires kids to, you know what? Hey, I can get off of my lazy butt and go out there and do something that I love," Jundt said.

To his teammates, Jundt is just one of the guys.

"They're like 'no mercy for you. We're just gonna go at you.' And I'm like, 'that's fine. I love it,'" Jundt said.

Jundt's story of how he got to Kenosha Indian Trail's football field is the stuff of movies.

"My parents abandoned me at five days old. I was born with a condition called fibula hemimelia. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, sorry doctors! But I was born with that. That's basically missing a fibula," Jundt explained.

Born in Inner Mongolia, he was adopted by a Kenosha couple at age seven.

"They lost three kids. Two to an hour of life. And one for six years. Cancer, and yeah, it was just rough, they went through a lot of hardship and pain. But God said 'you know what? This is not the end of your story. Your story is still continuing. And I am going to let you adopt a son, and two more kids,'" Jundt said of his adoptive parents.

Jundt says his faith keeps him going, and remembers a time talking to another media outlet about it.

"I remember one news station didn't put it in, and I'm like 'please, put my faith in there.' Because my faith, is what got me here. Because of God. I am here," Jundt says. "He opened the door for me, to play football."

This story originally reported by Lance Allan on TMJ4.com.