Long Island man who lost leg in shooting accident now hailed as champion bodybuilder: ‘I couldn’t let that be my life’

He has a leg up on the competition.

A young Long Island man who lost his leg after being shot three months out of high school is completing the ultimate redemption arc as a champion bodybuilder who has turned tragedy into triumph.

“When I went to the prosthetic store for the first time, I saw so many other young people in there completely losing it and breaking down,” Louis Plumitallo, 22, of Mount Sinai told The Post. “I knew I couldn’t let that be my life.”

Plumitallo’s life forever changed when, at age 18, he was with a then friend who was showing off a family member’s rifle and foolishly pointed the gun at Plumitallo, not realizing it was loaded.

“Before I could even say anything, it went off,” he said of the wound that cost him his entire right leg.

He was forced to leave Suffolk Community College and endure the changes in everyday tasks, such as climbing stairs, getting in and out of cars, walking on sand at the beach to even showering.

“I used the gym as an outlet,” said Plumitallo, once a strong hockey player who was a right wing and center at Ward Melville High School. “I was in there two hours a day.”

Ed Darcy, his trainer at Rocky Point’s Personal Fitness Club, quickly became a mentor who showed Plumitallo all the ways to adjust to his new life and fitness regimen about six months after the shooting.

“I didn’t go to therapy, but Ed was the guy I talked to about everything,” said Plumitallo.

“He helped me get back to normal again — I want to have kids and all that. So I had to get back in shape and everything anyway. I couldn’t be lazy.”

Things were certainly challenging at the outset, especially balancing and adjusting to the heavy weightlifting, as well as shedding the extra pounds he had picked up. The latter caused “nightmare” pain where his prosthetic leg met the skin near Plumitallo’s hip.

“I’ve broken a lot of pieces and stuff on it because I’m super active,” he said, adding that gym buddies saw his strength and urged him to try bodybuilding.

By 2023, Plumitallo was down to about 140 pounds from his usual 165 and ripped enough to flex at the Bev Francis Atlantic States Championships.

Facing off against two-legged competitors, Plumitallo came in second place in his initial competition — but he won the hearts of the crowd.

“You definitely heard more claps and stuff,” he said. “They respect it.”

This June, he finished the job, placing first in the men’s physique juniors competition and second overall in men’s physique — a coup de grâce that proved the vibrance of his life was anything but taken away.

“It felt like a huge weight off my back with getting back to normal,” said Plumitallo, who has made massive strides to regain the ability to pursue his other passions in life.

As an avid fisherman, he catches 300-pound tuna with little issue, performs backflips into the water and swims without aid — mountain bikes and has even started to ice skate again.

He credits his Bluetooth-connected leg having different settings for water, ice and even riding, among other options, for his super human feats.

“I’m looking into a men’s league for hockey now,” said the die-hard Rangers fan. “Taking the ice again was incredibly special.”

However, most of all, Plumitallo, who has had a long-term girlfriend since the accident, can make a living for himself independently.

He owns half of The Pest Paisan — Mosquito Guido extermination company and handles all the territory from western Suffolk through Nassau.

“I do everything. I’m up on ladders, you name it,” he said. “Right now, the focus is on growing the business, and I’ll probably compete again about a year from now.”

Still, that won’t stop Plumitallo from pumping iron on the regular — and motivating anybody who crosses his path.

“People will come up to me and say, ‘I really wasn’t feeling like working out, but if you can do it, of course I can,’” he said. “I learned through this that you need to be as mentally strong as your body.”