Former Everman football player paralyzed during state title match dies

The Everman community mourns the loss of a former soccer player who was paralyzed during a high school game 20 years ago.

Corey Fulbright died this week.

Back in 2002, when Fulbright was 17, he suffered a spinal cord injury during his senior year at a state championship football game.

For the past two decades, Fulbright has been a role model for his younger family members and many other North Texas residents. He held a special place in the Everman community.

His family said that the beginning of this year was difficult. He went to the hospital several times and his body was too weak.

“Despite all that, he wanted to make sure we were okay,” Fulbright’s mother Tammy Coleman said.

At their Everman home, family always comes first.

Now the Fulbright program is missing a huge part.

Coleman, a mother of four, was forced to say goodbye to her oldest child on Wednesday.

“He was just Corey. He was a wonderful soul,” she added.

A month ago, 37-year-old Fulbright was admitted to the hospital with a collapsed lung.

A few weeks later he was again in the intensive care unit.

“This time both lungs collapsed and his body was too weak to fight it. So God called him home,” Coleman said.

In 2002, Fulbright’s life changed forever.

It was his last year at Everman High School in Tarrant County.

During a 3A state championship football game, the 17-year-old quarterback broke his neck during a hard hit.

The teenager was paralyzed.

READ MORE: Arlington Lamar is the only Texas high school with two Super Bowl players

But over the next two decades, Fulbright’s mother said his positivity and love for others never wavered.

“Can’t walk, can’t eat, can’t wash, can’t do anything,” she said. “He had the ability to serve someone else in their situation. That’s the kind of person he was.”

Fulbright enjoyed watching scary movies, rooting for the Dallas Mavericks, and mentoring his nieces and nephews.

“He told them that you need to do it. Life is hard. Life is like this, and life is like that. They listened to them,” Coleman recalled.

She said that even in times of difficulty, Fulbright always put others before himself.

Even in his final moments on Wednesday, he kept asking his mother how she was doing.

“Mom will be fine. You will always have a place in your mother’s heart, no matter what. This is what I told him and he closed his eyes,” she said.

Coleman said it was hard for her to lose her older child, but she also felt some relief.

“It was hard, your firstborn. I should have gone ahead of him. It was hard,” she said. “But he doesn’t suffer anymore. Now he’s better.”

Fulbright’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday, February 18 at Everman High School.

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News

texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

Related Articles

Back to top button