The Western Tech football coaches will host a bull roast Saturday night to raise money for the family of Chris Mason-Hale, the Wolverines player who suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury in August.
"We've been planning to do something for quite some time," said Wolverines defensive coordinator Matt Quayle. "I've been around football for a while and you just know this is one of the most severe injuries anyone can ever have. We just can't sit by. We want to do as much as possible for him."
Mason-Hale, a senior linebacker, was injured making a tackle in a scrimmage Aug. 29. When he made the hit, the C-5 vertebra in his neck broke. The bone pushed into his spinal canal and bruised the spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed.
His father, Gary Hale, said he now has feeling all through his body and increased motion in his hands and toes. However, he still cannot move his legs.
"He's still very upbeat," Hale said. "He's telling me he's doing what he wants to. He's trying to be as active as he wants to be."
Mason-Hale has been home from the Kennedy Krieger Institute for two months but will return for outpatient therapy soon.
In the meantime, Mason-Hale will graduate from Western Tech on Monday.
The funds raised from the bull roast will help offset the family's medical bills, an amount Gary Hale finds hard to estimate. He said the Kennedy Krieger bill alone was $900,000 and there are the added expenses of equipment, medication and remodeling for the family's house that dates to 1921. Insurance covers some of the expenses.
Saturday's bull roast will include a raffle of sports memorabilia donated by the Ravens, the Orioles and the New York Giants. Quayle said footballs signed by Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and the entire Giants team have been donated as well as items from one of the newest Ravens, Domonique Foxworth, a former Western Tech player.
The bull roast to benefit the Chris Mason-Hale Foundation is from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at St. Matthew's Church, 5401 Loch Raven Blvd. Tickets are $50. For information, call Ryan Heaney at 410-218-6232.
