Dowagiac wrestler defying all odds to get back on the mat after losing his leg to cancer

DOWAGIAC, Mich. --Weski Wesaw is a son, brother, but most of all a fighter; after going through a traumatic event, he managed to come out on top. But before that event, Wesaw had a very ordinary childhood. Wesaw was the first baby in the family who loved to play and wrestle, but unfortunately that all changed one winter day. Wesaw says, “I was wrestling, and my coach fell on it, so, like, he bruised it, and, like, my legs started, like, hurting really badly when I started walking. So we got to check that.”

The family then found out Weski had a form of bone cancer called osteosarcoma. Felicia Wesaw, Weski's grandma tells ABC57's Sidney Moore that the whole family tried their best to stay strong for Weski after hearing this devastating news. Felicia says, "You don't cry in front of them. That's because they're already fighting the biggest battle of their life, which is life and death. And how do you explain that to a child? He was just a child. He was just a just a little kid, you know."

Unfortunately, this diagnosis felt all too familiar as Felicia's daughter, Yvonne Rosario Ortiz, had the same form of cancer, which she was able to fight until 2009, when she passed away. Weski quickly had to make a decision that would shape his life forever, to keep his leg or to lose it. His aunt chose to not amputate anything after her diagnosis, which then led the cancer to spread throughout her body.

Felicia Wesaw, Weski's Grandma explains, “He got his leg amputated, a little bit above his knee, but they had to go back in and shave it again. So that was twice, and he was like, he's just a young guy.”

After losing his leg, Weski explains that he fell into depression after this big change. “I didn't go to school at all, like, I think I missed, like, I had to have award for like, missing the greatest number of days, or something. I didn't go to school at all, and I didn't have no motivation. I felt like I was out of place. I felt like by having one leg and walking around with a whole bunch of kids around my age, I felt like I was alone.”

But one day that all changed when speaking with the school secretary Tonya Brooks Weski decided he wanted to wrestle again. They brought the idea to Athletic Director Brent Nate who was unsure about the outcome but was all game. “I'm not going to lie to you, in my mind, I'm like, thinking, how in the heck is this going to happen? And Coach Brandt was like, absolutely. I think I just looked at him, like, okay, you say it. I go. The coach says it's going to happen. We're making it happen.”

After that conversation, it was game on. Tonya Brooks the School Secretary says, "You could see the light in his eyes, and you could tell how excited he was to have it was almost like an A moment of acceptance for him after everything had went on, and it gave him the drive, or it gave him a reason to come to school."

With only one leg, Weski had to relearn the sport, telling ABC57's Sidney Moore it's a completely different approach. “It's a whole different ballpark from normal wrestling. I have to really think about it like my moves and what works the best for me.”

Now he is competing between 144-to-165-pound bracket depending on where the team needs him.

Weski now is pushing to the future hoping to continue wrestling in college along with a double major in business and engineering.

He also hopes to get a prosthetic leg come may to be able to walk across the stage at graduation so Secretary Tonya Brooks can turn his tassel.