Leo
05-20-2003, 12:58 PM
David Flores: Injured player's father determined to help
Web Posted : 05/20/2003 12:00 AM Eddie Canales calls it "a labor of love," although the emotional and physical stress leave him feeling "like a zombie" on many days.
image
Chris Canales fractured his fifth and sixth vertebrae in the last game of the 2001 season. His father Eddie established the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Organization.
Courtesy photo
A soft-spoken man, Canales starts every day at his home in Schertz at 7 a.m. and doesn't get to bed until 3 a.m. the next day.
During that 20-hour period, Canales does "the work of three hospital shifts" caring for his 19-year-old son, Chris, a quadriplegic since breaking his neck in a high school football game on Nov. 2, 2001.
Eddie Canales' wife, Pita, marvels at her husband's strength.
"I got him a coffee mug that has Superman on it," she said Monday. "I tell him, 'You're my Superman.'"
To hear Eddie Canales tell it, he's just doing what any father would do in the same situation.
"You get tired and you don't sleep much, but it's your child," he said. "I do the things I do for Chris because of the love I have for him.
"It's a labor of love. You do what you have to do and try to make the best of it."
With that in mind, Canales is determined to help lighten the load for parents of other high school athletes who might face the same tragedy in the future.
"We need to be better prepared in the high school community for this type of injury," he said. "We still enjoy watching football and our intent is not to deter kids from playing football. More kids get hurt in car wrecks every day than they do playing football.
"But right now, on the high-school level, there's nothing in place to help the athletes and their families with something as catastrophic as a spinal-cord injury. There is no central location for families and coaches to go for help. This is what I want to change."
That is why Canales and Mike Kipp, Chris' former coach at San Marcos Baptist Academy, have established the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Organization.
It's a nonprofit group dedicated to "providing resources and support to individuals sustaining a catastrophic spinal-cord injury during a high school football event in Texas," according to its mission statement.
Canales would like to model the Gridiron Heroes organization after the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis Foundation, which has been at the forefront of research for spinal-cord injuries research since it was created in 1985. Waldrep, a TCU running back, broke his neck in a game in 1974.
Canales and Corey Fulbright, an Everman defensive back who suffered a spinal-cord injury last December in a game at the Alamodome, were honored recently by the Waldrep Foundation at the Dallas Cowboys' Spinal Cord Victory Golf Challenge in Grapevine.
Chris Canales was a senior defensive back when he fractured his fifth and sixth vertebrae while making a tackle against Waco Reicher in the last game of the 2001 season.
Eddie and Chris Canales saw Fulbright get hurt in the Class 3A Division I state final, and have given him and his family their support.
"I want to try to be everywhere and talk to people and give them hope, because I know what they're going through," Chris said Monday. "Once I start thinking of other people, I quit thinking of my problems. We're excited about Gridiron Heroes."
After Chris was released from The Institute of Rehabilitation and Research in Houston on Feb. 28, 2002, Canales quit his job as director of operations for a college bookstore to care for his son.
Pita continued working as an assistant principal at Dellview Elementary School. The couple has another son, Bobby, a student at Texas A&M.
Eddie estimates that Chris' medical expenses since his injury have totaled more than $860,000.
"Insurance pays only 80 percent of the medical expenses and 50 percent of what they call durable goods (special wheelchair, bed, mattress, etc.), so it's really a burden on the family," Eddie said.
It's time to provide a safety net for the families of high school athletes who suffer spinal-cord injuries.
You can help by sending your contributions to the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Organization, 1664 Royal Palm, Schertz, Texas, 78154.
dflores@express-news.net
Web Posted : 05/20/2003 12:00 AM Eddie Canales calls it "a labor of love," although the emotional and physical stress leave him feeling "like a zombie" on many days.
image
Chris Canales fractured his fifth and sixth vertebrae in the last game of the 2001 season. His father Eddie established the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Organization.
Courtesy photo
A soft-spoken man, Canales starts every day at his home in Schertz at 7 a.m. and doesn't get to bed until 3 a.m. the next day.
During that 20-hour period, Canales does "the work of three hospital shifts" caring for his 19-year-old son, Chris, a quadriplegic since breaking his neck in a high school football game on Nov. 2, 2001.
Eddie Canales' wife, Pita, marvels at her husband's strength.
"I got him a coffee mug that has Superman on it," she said Monday. "I tell him, 'You're my Superman.'"
To hear Eddie Canales tell it, he's just doing what any father would do in the same situation.
"You get tired and you don't sleep much, but it's your child," he said. "I do the things I do for Chris because of the love I have for him.
"It's a labor of love. You do what you have to do and try to make the best of it."
With that in mind, Canales is determined to help lighten the load for parents of other high school athletes who might face the same tragedy in the future.
"We need to be better prepared in the high school community for this type of injury," he said. "We still enjoy watching football and our intent is not to deter kids from playing football. More kids get hurt in car wrecks every day than they do playing football.
"But right now, on the high-school level, there's nothing in place to help the athletes and their families with something as catastrophic as a spinal-cord injury. There is no central location for families and coaches to go for help. This is what I want to change."
That is why Canales and Mike Kipp, Chris' former coach at San Marcos Baptist Academy, have established the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Organization.
It's a nonprofit group dedicated to "providing resources and support to individuals sustaining a catastrophic spinal-cord injury during a high school football event in Texas," according to its mission statement.
Canales would like to model the Gridiron Heroes organization after the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis Foundation, which has been at the forefront of research for spinal-cord injuries research since it was created in 1985. Waldrep, a TCU running back, broke his neck in a game in 1974.
Canales and Corey Fulbright, an Everman defensive back who suffered a spinal-cord injury last December in a game at the Alamodome, were honored recently by the Waldrep Foundation at the Dallas Cowboys' Spinal Cord Victory Golf Challenge in Grapevine.
Chris Canales was a senior defensive back when he fractured his fifth and sixth vertebrae while making a tackle against Waco Reicher in the last game of the 2001 season.
Eddie and Chris Canales saw Fulbright get hurt in the Class 3A Division I state final, and have given him and his family their support.
"I want to try to be everywhere and talk to people and give them hope, because I know what they're going through," Chris said Monday. "Once I start thinking of other people, I quit thinking of my problems. We're excited about Gridiron Heroes."
After Chris was released from The Institute of Rehabilitation and Research in Houston on Feb. 28, 2002, Canales quit his job as director of operations for a college bookstore to care for his son.
Pita continued working as an assistant principal at Dellview Elementary School. The couple has another son, Bobby, a student at Texas A&M.
Eddie estimates that Chris' medical expenses since his injury have totaled more than $860,000.
"Insurance pays only 80 percent of the medical expenses and 50 percent of what they call durable goods (special wheelchair, bed, mattress, etc.), so it's really a burden on the family," Eddie said.
It's time to provide a safety net for the families of high school athletes who suffer spinal-cord injuries.
You can help by sending your contributions to the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Organization, 1664 Royal Palm, Schertz, Texas, 78154.
dflores@express-news.net