Published Monday, July 12, 2010

Cowetan overcomes obstacle to become a U.S. Marine

By BEN SMITH

For the Times-Herald

Dustin Fuller has dreamed of being in the United States Marine Corps since he was a child.

He is a man who lives life as quickly as it comes and spends much of it in the outdoors. So, as a profession, he could think of no greater career than valiantly serving his country in the United States Marine Corps, wherever it may take him. He started his dream in school by being a part of the ROTC program at East Coweta High School.

It has not been an easy road, however.

In August 2006, at age 16, Fuller was thrown from his car in a head-on accident on Highway 85 in Senoia.

Miraculously, he came out of it with only a compound fracture in his leg, requiring a titanium rod implant to repair the wound. It was a blow to his dreams of joining the Marine Corps because Marines are not allowed to have foreign objects in their bodies. But Fuller did not accept this obstacle and never gave up on his dream.

His mother, Michele Fuller, said Dustin never complains about injuries -- so if he mentions something is hurting, it must be serious. About a year and a half after the accident, the area around the rod began to get infected and he contracted some flu-like symptoms, dizziness and became unable to walk.

In January 2008, he began six weeks of treatment for what the doctors believed to be Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), more commonly known as a staph infection.

MRSA is a multi-drug resistant bacterium that infects open wounds, and, according to a recent study by the Associated Press, has shown a sharp increase in the number of risk cases in children. He was not diagnosed with staph until he was transferred to the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston on Feb. 20, 2008.

Here, his infection worsened until his blood pressure level became life-threateningly low. The doctors told Michele that Dustin would probably not make it through the next 24 hours.

Three days before his 19th birthday, his oxygen levels suffered and he went into septic shock, ultimately flatlining on his birthday. Michele knew the effects of staph infection and septic shock all too well as her only brother passed away of the same thing in 2004.

Her son never gave up, however.

He fought back as the doctors were able to revive him. He remained at Egleston for another 50 days as he spent his time recovering from his infection. Despite the situation, Dustin entertained all of the doctors and nurses with his own infectious personality and scintillating humor.

During this time he shared with his clinicians and physicians that he wanted to regain his strength in order to become a Marine and one day walk down the halls of Egleston in his Dress Blues.

Due to his medical history and health complications, the doctors and his family thought this an unlikely outcome, but decided not to share their disbelief with Fuller.

He was finally cleared to come home on April 10, 2008. It took his body six months to get off the steroids, and during this time he also had surgery, removing the metal rod from his leg.

He believed that it was now time to finally accomplish his goal and join the Marine Corps.

Fuller worked with numerous doctors to get medical evaluations and releases -- ultimately clearing the USMC medical certification, surprising his mother and many of the doctors who did not think it would happen.

Fuller was sworn in as a candidate for the Marines and departed for Parris Island on Dec. 7, 2009. He successfully graduated boot camp on March 5, 2010 and has been promoted to private first class.

Today Fuller is stationed at NSA Northwest Annex in Chesapeake, Va., as a United States Marine. He is training with the Security Forces for FAST CO from which he will graduate on July 28. From there he will remain with FAST CO to begin his work for deployment until the Marines decide where he should go next.