Spinal Cord Victims Assistance; Amputee to Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
PHILLIPS: We're introducing you to CNN's Top Ten Heroes every Saturday, and this week hero was nominated for his role in assisting young people injured on the football field. Dozens of teens suffer spinal cord injuries while playing the sport that they love. Eddie Canales started Gridiron Heroes and is working to improve the lives of these paralyzed teens. Eddie, great to see you.</s>EDDIE CANALES, CNN HERO, GRIDIRON HEROES: Thank you very much. Great to see you.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, it's pretty amazing what you're doing, but unfortunately it took a really tough moment in your life to get to this point. And that was when your son, Chris, was playing football. Take us back to that moment.</s>CANALES: Well, it was a tough moment to see your son go down like this and being told that it was a possibility of spinal cord injury. At the time when we went down on the field, we just tried to think that it was only a stinger. And so it was a very tough time. But I'd like to also, you know, start by saying something else. I'd like to ask the viewers, we need your help in prayers. Two days ago we received a call that another young man in Texas suffered a spinal cord injury in a small town of Vega, Texas in the Panhandle. He was playing for Vega High School. And so we'd like to ask for your help in prayers for Luis Morales and his family. We have already reached out to his family and to the school and the coaches. And we just ask for your help and prayers right now.</s>PHILLIPS: You know, Eddie, and you bring up - actually, you bring up an interesting point. I mean, I lived and worked in Texas. You know the state well. This is big for high school football. I mean, it's huge.</s>CANALES: It is. Yes.</s>PHILLIPS: Which is why you see a lot of injuries, and that's why you were so involved with football, your son so involved with football. But here's what's amazing. We're going to talk a little bit more about what you're doing for these athletes, but it was your son that actually said to you at some point when he was really struggling, dad, we got to do something, right?</s>CANALES: Right. That's correct. At his lowest point, I took him to a state championship game just to get him out of the house. And we had almost lost Chris twice in ICU and once when he came home. All we could offer at the time was that, you know, if the Lord wanted him by his side, he had three chances to take him. Something good would come out of his injuries. So taking him to that game, we were there for a purpose, as we look back on it. And being there at his lowest point, we witnessed the young man go down, but Chris turned to me and said, dad, we've got to go help him. I know what he's going to go through and you know what the family is going to go through. And that was the starting point, the inspiration behind Gridiron Heroes.</s>PHILLIPS: So Eddie, tell me what the scope -</s>CANALES: Chris and I actually -</s>PHILLIPS: No, I'm sorry. Go ahead.</s>CANALES: Well, actually, Chris and I are already making plans. Tomorrow we head to Amarillo where this young man is at right now. He's in ICU, and we will be meeting with the family and the coaches. It's a good 10-hour drive, but this is something that we have to do.</s>PHILLIPS: And tell me about that. Eddie, since we have a case that has happened so soon, explain to our viewers what exactly you and Chris will do to basically step in and try to tell this young man, you know, it's going to be OK?</s>CANALES: Well, this is the hard part. You know, Chris and I, we all have to relive that injury, and that's the hard part about, you know, being there for the families. But what we want to do is be able to provide the best way to say if is information, inspiration and hope. A lot of times the hope is taken away. The family is going to be given the worst-case scenario, and you know, we've seen other situations where coaches - or where the doctors have provided the worst-case scenario, and we've had situations where young men that have suffered a similar injury are now walking. So, you know, we wanted just to make sure that they're there. That they don't feel alone. Because they may have a whole ICU room full of people, but as a parent going through this, you feel so isolated because very few people will understand what this family is going to go through. We do. And so we've walked those shoes and we live it every day. So being able to have someone to talk to and offer the information and guidance is very important. And that's where we come in. Being there for them immediately, organizing the community, the coaches on how to help, you know, this young man and his family. And so that's so important. Because, again, there's a lot of people that might want to help, but have no clue how to help.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, they're going to know now.</s>CANALES: We can guide those families.</s>PHILLIPS: Darn right.</s>CANALES: Yes, ma'am.</s>PHILLIPS: Gridiron Heroes, and Eddie Canales, not only are you our hero, but we got - we should put your son Chris right along with you. Thank you so much for talking about the program.</s>CANALES: Oh, yes.</s>PHILLIPS: We so appreciate having you with us.</s>CANALES: Thank you very much.</s>PHILLIPS: You bet. And CNN has announced its Top 10 Heroes for 2011. Who are these inspiring people doing extraordinary things? Well, check them out at CNNHeroes.com and vote for your top choice for Hero of the Year and watch them or DVR it. "CNN Heroes, an All-Star Tribute" live on Sunday, December 11th, 8:00 P.M. Eastern, 5:00 P.M. Pacific. Well, climbing Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro is quite a feat within itself. But a 25-year-old Georgia man who was born a quadruple amputee is taking on the awesome task, all while raising awareness for African children with disabilities. WGCL reporter Hena Daniels has the story.</s>KYLE MAYNARD, TRAINING TO CLIMB MT. KILIMANJARO: I think Kilimanjaro is going to be the toughest test I've ever faced.</s>HENA DANIELS, WGCL REPORTER (voice-over): And Kyle Maynard knows all too well about challenges. He's a quadriplegic born with no arms and no legs.</s>MAYNARD: To me I'll never know any difference. So my parents raised me with that. You just go and believed that, you know, the disability was there, but it wasn't something that was going to affect my life.</s>DANIELS: And it hasn't. The 25-year-old has competed in wrestling, martial arts and cross fit. But now he's preparing to climb more than 19,000 feet on Mt. Kilimanjaro.</s>MAYNARD: So looking forward just to send a message to people that, you know, just, you know, get up and do something. We got to get out of that mentality that, you know, we just whine and complain about all the bad things that can go and happen to us. You know, just go and say, like there's life to live. Like I'm just going and start to do something now, you know, live it.</s>DANIELS: Kyle and his team prepare for the climb on Stone Mountain. Kyle will not use any prosthetics or be pulled up with any equipment.</s>MAYNARD: So basically just doing a bear crawl down on all fours.</s>DANIELS: All he has is mountain bike tires wrapped around his limbs with gorilla tape.</s>MAYNARD: There's no Ace Hardware in Africa where we're going to, you know, to pick up gears. So if something breaks like we've got to make sure that we can fix it.</s>DANIELS: Team Kilimanjaro consists of Kyle and his friends who will connect with children in Africa also affected by disabilities.</s>MAYNARD: People would think that like a grown guy born without arms and legs that that's the worst thing that can happen to him. To me, you know, I view that as, you know, probably the greatest gift I've ever been given.