WFAA-TV

Corey stays positive - he hopes to walk again.

Every Friday night, thousands of high school athletes put everything on the line to win.

But what happens when a tackle goes terribly wrong and one of these athletes is paralyzed for life?

"It can happen anytime, anywhere," said Eddie Canales.

Canales and his son Chris know firsthand that athletes can pay a high price for gridiron glory.

Chris was paralyzed in the last game of the 2001 season – fourth quarter, four minutes to go.

"It felt like it was slow motion, it happened in a quick second," he said.

A year later, father and son were at the 2002 Texas 3a State Championship game. Defensive back Corey Fulbright from Everman High School had waited four years for this game.

"Going to the championship, it was like stepping into the big leagues," he said.

It was still the first quarter when Corey went down.

"The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground and I couldn’t move," he said.

"I turned to my Dad and said, "We have to go help him because no one was there to help me when I went down,"" Chris said.

At the hospital, doctors told Corey he’d never walk.

"They told me I wouldn’t ever move from my neck down ever again," he said.

All Corey wanted to know is "did we win?"

"I’ll be walking sooner or later. I stay positive," he said.

But Corey has plenty of obstacles ahead of him. He depends on Medicaid and Medicare to pay his enormous medical bills.

"I know how hard it is to get stuff. I’ve had a lot of stuff denied," he said.

For example, he has been denied a specialized air mattress that helps prevent pressure sores – without it, Corey had to have surgery and spent July and August in the hospital.

"My nurse was saying if I had an air mattress, it would have been a lot cheaper instead of going into the hospital and spending all that money," Corey said.

Now Corey has to wait to see if the catastrophic injury policy paid for by his high school will authorize the money.

It’s been five years since Corey was injured and the list of what he needs seems endless. Without a hydraulic lift, he can’t get in or out of bed without help. Medicaid and Medicare have denied the request.

"There’s nothing I can do about it right now. I guess we have to keep trying," he said.

"These young men have been forgotten little by little," said Eddie Canales.

He travels around Texas with a beat- up poster board covered with photographs of the 14 paralyzed high school players his organization – "gridiron heroes" -- is trying to help.

"A mom called me and wanted us to help her son. She can’t hold down a full time job. I understand because I lost my job having to take care of Chris."

It’s not easy to raise his yearly goal of $100,000 – money his non-profit foundation uses to buy the wheelchairs and specially equipped vans these kids need.

"When the horse Barbaro went down, the racehorse community raised millions of dollars. We need to get to the point in the football community where we value the human injured athletes as much or more as the racehorse community values a fine animal," he said.

"Not all schools have catastrophic policies. Sometimes schools let them run out. Some only have $10,000. That will cover two nights in the ICU. This is an injury that can cost $150,000 to half a million in the first 100 days," he added.

Canales hopes the spotlight on NFL players who testified before congress last month seeking better disability benefits will help him change the way high school athletes are taken care of.

"I’d love to go in front of the legislature in the State of Texas... If we could dedicate 25 cents of every ticket sold, we can react to help these young men at the time they need help instead of playing catch up," he said.

"These young men gave it their all playing the game they love. We should have something is place for these young men when something like this happens. This is what we need to change."

Corey Fulbright is actually one of the lucky ones. His high school had a catastrophic injury policy which helps pay the enormous bills.

But what about that idea of donating a quarter from every high school ticket sold? If you do the math, football fans could raise $4.8 million a year.

That would go a long way to help the 14 “gridiron heroes” in this report who will need medical care for the rest of their lives.