Leo
05-29-2003, 02:13 PM
We need to recruit this Texan
Posted on Thu, May. 29, 2003 story:PUB_DESC
Reaching for a Dream
Corey Fulbright, who graduated Wednesday, says he will pursue his biggest goal: walking again
By Damien Pierce
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM/JESSICA KOURKOUNIS
Corey Fulbright graduated Wednesday from Everman High School, above. Fulbright was paralyzed in December in the first quarter of play of the Class 3A state football championship, at top.
STAR-TELEGRAM ARCHIVES
Corey Fulbright
EVERMAN - There is an image that visits Corey Fulbright in his sleep.
It's not the hit. Not the sinking fear he felt asking a doctor whether he broke his neck. Not the spinal surgery, nor the pain of seeing family and friends cry over his hospital bed.
The slender teen with sleepy eyes and cornrows is in the hallway of Everman High School. The bell has sounded, and classmates are streaming past him, some asking when he's going to dance again.
Fulbright is beaming. Before the hit, the former football player used to roam the halls and show off his dance moves.
He wants to be that guy again, and he's tired of waiting.
Fulbright gets up from his motorized wheelchair. He's walking. Really walking.
The doctors didn't know what they were talking about. He told them.
He's back from the devastating tackle that left him paralyzed from the neck down.
"I have those dreams all the time," Fulbright said. "Sometimes, I wish I could stay in the dream."
Five months after breaking his neck in the Class 3A state championship football game, Fulbright graduated from high school Wednesday night at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center. While most of his peers are thinking about jobs and college, Fulbright's future revolves around that dream.
Sometimes it feels so real that he wakes up in the morning thinking he is going to get out of bed and walk.
He revisits the dream every time he has to push his cramped muscles in therapy or suffer through spasms.
"I truly believe there is a reason this happened, that there is a plan for me," said Fulbright, 18. "I don't know what it is yet. But I'm going to walk again and figure it out."
It was one play that took away everything Fulbright once took for granted.
It was his last football game. His last. He wasn't going to put the pads on ever again after Dec. 14. He just had to get through one game, but no player ever really looks at it that way.
One hit changed that.
"It's like a magic bullet," said Dr. Lance Bruce, who treated Fulbright after he was transferred from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio to Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation in Dallas. "He probably made that same hit thousands of times and didn't have any harm to him. But that one instant, his neck was just in a position where it was vulnerable."
The hit came during the Class 3A Division I state championship game in the Alamodome in San Antonio. Everman was going for its second straight title.
And while Fulbright had a ring from the first state title, he was a starter now and wanted to make his mark.
He opened the game by making three tackles. Nothing glitzy, but he was making an impact.
Then came the play.
He remembers seeing the ball in the air and a receiver coming at him. He couldn't let the guy catch it, or he was going to score. He had to separate the ball from the receiver.
Fulbright dived and laid a powerful lick on Burnet tailback Patrick Miller. He saw the ball drop.
"I knew I hit him good," Fulbright said. "It was one of those hits where you feel like you go through the guy. But this time, something was wrong. My teammates came over telling me to get up, but I couldn't. I could lift my head, but nothing else."
The stadium went silent.
Fulbright doesn't remember much after that. The 25-minute wait, the ambulance ride, the surgery. It's all a blur.
He just remembers waking up in the hospital and seeing his family for the first time.
"The first couple days, I wasn't handling it real good," said Tammy Flanagan, Corey's mother. "But his oldest brother went in to see him, and he was crying. Corey said, 'Don't cry, I'm going to be OK. So stop crying. Just because I'm laying here doesn't mean anything. I'm going to be fine.' He's been so strong. We've just believed in him ever since."
Fulbright fractured his fifth cervical vertebrae, and doctors said that the chances he will be a quadriplegic are "greater than 99 percent."
He can control his wheelchair, but he can't move his fingers or his legs.
Doctors have told Fulbright what this means.
"I understand what they are saying, because that's what they are trained to say," he said. "They are all great people, and they've helped me a lot. But I just have to believe in myself because I know what's possible for me."
That's when the dream started.
The first time it seemed to come out of nowhere, almost taunting him. But lately, he's been having it over and over and sees it for what it is: hope.
He spends most of his afternoons trying to wiggle a toe.
"I think some people wonder if I regret making that hit," Fulbright said. "I don't. I had to keep the guy from scoring. You only have so many chances to win state, and winning means a lot to me."
With his high school diploma in hand, Fulbright wants to become an actor. He hasn't figured out whether comedies or thrillers are his style, but it's all the same to him. He's even making arrangements to go to California this summer to work with an acting coach who specializes in working with disabled actors.
But the larger goal isn't Hollywood or Broadway.
It's living the dream.
"I know what the odds are, but I'm going to be fine," Fulbright said. "There's no reason to worry about me. I'm going to live my dream."
Posted on Thu, May. 29, 2003 story:PUB_DESC
Reaching for a Dream
Corey Fulbright, who graduated Wednesday, says he will pursue his biggest goal: walking again
By Damien Pierce
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM/JESSICA KOURKOUNIS
Corey Fulbright graduated Wednesday from Everman High School, above. Fulbright was paralyzed in December in the first quarter of play of the Class 3A state football championship, at top.
STAR-TELEGRAM ARCHIVES
Corey Fulbright
EVERMAN - There is an image that visits Corey Fulbright in his sleep.
It's not the hit. Not the sinking fear he felt asking a doctor whether he broke his neck. Not the spinal surgery, nor the pain of seeing family and friends cry over his hospital bed.
The slender teen with sleepy eyes and cornrows is in the hallway of Everman High School. The bell has sounded, and classmates are streaming past him, some asking when he's going to dance again.
Fulbright is beaming. Before the hit, the former football player used to roam the halls and show off his dance moves.
He wants to be that guy again, and he's tired of waiting.
Fulbright gets up from his motorized wheelchair. He's walking. Really walking.
The doctors didn't know what they were talking about. He told them.
He's back from the devastating tackle that left him paralyzed from the neck down.
"I have those dreams all the time," Fulbright said. "Sometimes, I wish I could stay in the dream."
Five months after breaking his neck in the Class 3A state championship football game, Fulbright graduated from high school Wednesday night at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center. While most of his peers are thinking about jobs and college, Fulbright's future revolves around that dream.
Sometimes it feels so real that he wakes up in the morning thinking he is going to get out of bed and walk.
He revisits the dream every time he has to push his cramped muscles in therapy or suffer through spasms.
"I truly believe there is a reason this happened, that there is a plan for me," said Fulbright, 18. "I don't know what it is yet. But I'm going to walk again and figure it out."
It was one play that took away everything Fulbright once took for granted.
It was his last football game. His last. He wasn't going to put the pads on ever again after Dec. 14. He just had to get through one game, but no player ever really looks at it that way.
One hit changed that.
"It's like a magic bullet," said Dr. Lance Bruce, who treated Fulbright after he was transferred from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio to Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation in Dallas. "He probably made that same hit thousands of times and didn't have any harm to him. But that one instant, his neck was just in a position where it was vulnerable."
The hit came during the Class 3A Division I state championship game in the Alamodome in San Antonio. Everman was going for its second straight title.
And while Fulbright had a ring from the first state title, he was a starter now and wanted to make his mark.
He opened the game by making three tackles. Nothing glitzy, but he was making an impact.
Then came the play.
He remembers seeing the ball in the air and a receiver coming at him. He couldn't let the guy catch it, or he was going to score. He had to separate the ball from the receiver.
Fulbright dived and laid a powerful lick on Burnet tailback Patrick Miller. He saw the ball drop.
"I knew I hit him good," Fulbright said. "It was one of those hits where you feel like you go through the guy. But this time, something was wrong. My teammates came over telling me to get up, but I couldn't. I could lift my head, but nothing else."
The stadium went silent.
Fulbright doesn't remember much after that. The 25-minute wait, the ambulance ride, the surgery. It's all a blur.
He just remembers waking up in the hospital and seeing his family for the first time.
"The first couple days, I wasn't handling it real good," said Tammy Flanagan, Corey's mother. "But his oldest brother went in to see him, and he was crying. Corey said, 'Don't cry, I'm going to be OK. So stop crying. Just because I'm laying here doesn't mean anything. I'm going to be fine.' He's been so strong. We've just believed in him ever since."
Fulbright fractured his fifth cervical vertebrae, and doctors said that the chances he will be a quadriplegic are "greater than 99 percent."
He can control his wheelchair, but he can't move his fingers or his legs.
Doctors have told Fulbright what this means.
"I understand what they are saying, because that's what they are trained to say," he said. "They are all great people, and they've helped me a lot. But I just have to believe in myself because I know what's possible for me."
That's when the dream started.
The first time it seemed to come out of nowhere, almost taunting him. But lately, he's been having it over and over and sees it for what it is: hope.
He spends most of his afternoons trying to wiggle a toe.
"I think some people wonder if I regret making that hit," Fulbright said. "I don't. I had to keep the guy from scoring. You only have so many chances to win state, and winning means a lot to me."
With his high school diploma in hand, Fulbright wants to become an actor. He hasn't figured out whether comedies or thrillers are his style, but it's all the same to him. He's even making arrangements to go to California this summer to work with an acting coach who specializes in working with disabled actors.
But the larger goal isn't Hollywood or Broadway.
It's living the dream.
"I know what the odds are, but I'm going to be fine," Fulbright said. "There's no reason to worry about me. I'm going to live my dream."