Biography David Edwards (motivational speaker)

1 biography

1.1 accident
1.2 post-accident life
1.3 death

biography

edwards born in austin, texas. young child, showed little interest in sports, son of former all-city running austin s reagan high school , cousin of former university of texas running shon mitchell.

accident

when ten, family moved san antonio, texas, , @ encouragement of new friend began playing football @ pop warner level. after junior season of varsity high school football in 2003, selected unanimous first-team area class 5a defensive san antonio express-news. season first , season playing varsity football san antonio s james madison high school. ln final minutes of first round play-off game in austin against westlake high school, collided face down crown of helmet chest of westlake receiver coy aune. impact of collision left him paralyzed shoulders down after shattering c-4 , c-5 vertebrae in neck. on 9,000 people on hand witness devastating hit resulting in injury.

his injury profoundly affected many in stadium. 1 attendees filmmaker peter berg, had followed westlake s season part of own research on texas high school football, prior filming movie version of friday night lights. seeking way edwards, berg came idea of having benefit concert him , other young men in similar circumstances, , in april 2004 concert took place in austin. concert produced friday night lights cast member , country music star tim mcgraw. mcgraw , wife faith hill headlined concert along friday night lights star , musician billy bob thornton , friend, rock legend alice cooper. concert raised $28,000, divided evenly between david edwards trust , gridiron heroes spinal cord injury organization.

post-accident life

edwards injury , rehabilitation inspired berg create character jason street (played scott porter), in tv-series friday night lights, premiered on nbc in fall 2006. person witnessed injury madison alumnus , former defensive shawn wayne jones, award-winning screenwriter. after following edwards recovery through media accounts, inspired produce documentary film edwards , other young men have been paralyzed while playing high school football; 1999 season through 2006 season, @ least 14 high school football players have been paralyzed in texas alone. media attention received edwards story helped organization gridiron heroes raise public awareness , support these young men face costly lifelong care not covered insurance , government subsidies. filming began in april 2005, prior edwards graduation, , feature-length documentary, beyond lights, expected premier @ sundance film festival when completed.

the austin westlake community go on raise on $100,000 david in short period of time, through athletic booster program. in doing so, money used offset insurance deductibles , pay other necessities not covered insurance , social security. 2 years later, edwards $1 million health insurance policy through stepfather s work had been exhausted, , school district s $5 million catastrophic policy took on 1 catch: policy had one-time $20,000 deductible. again, westlake community came david s aid , raised $20,000 within 2 weeks.

in 2004, kb homes built , donated new single-story home custom designed edwards needs in same neighborhood parents had purchased new two-story home year before injury. home built within 1 month, , of labor provided edwards madison teammates , friends.

following injury, edwards became inspiration many including young children in elementary schools whom spoke facing life s challenges positive attitude. mentored youths faced similar physical challenges , befriended faced terminal disease.

edwards became active participant in gridiron heroes spinal cord injury foundation. became close friends chris canales, co-founder of website, edwards all-district defensive had suffered spinal cord injury, in canales case while making tackle playing san marcos baptist academy in 2001. 2 seen on field @ numerous high school , college football games, continuing support sport brought disabilities. edwards joined canales , father eddie canales @ fundraising events throughout state of texas.

death

david edwards died of pneumonia related complications @ age of 20 on february 27, 2008, @ northeast methodist hospital in san antonio, texas. 3 days away 21st birthday.