COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tyson Gentry walked on the Ohio State team football team, but his football career was cut short.

What You Need To Know

  • Tyson Gentry was a walk on football player at Ohio State, but during a team practice in April 2006, he became paralyzed following a hit

  • Gentry started a nonprofit organization in 2014 called the "New Perspective Foundation" to help those with disabilities or other medical issues

  • Gentry is also a motivational speaker and is turning what happened to him into a way to help others

“My whole world was turned upside down,” he said.

Gentry took a hit during a practice back in April 2006, and it left him paralyzed.

“Going from being a 20-year-old independent college student living his dream playing football for Ohio State to then not even being able to scratch my nose and relying on others for literally anything,” he said.

Gentry said that he received an outpouring of love from the Buckeye community.

“I think I received over 1,000 cards from Buckeye fans around the world,” he said.

Then in 2014, Gentry started a nonprofit organization called New Perspective Foundation. The goal of the nonprofit is to help people with disabilities or other medical issues and ease some of the financial burden that comes along with that.

“Mostly we pick for lodging because hotel expenses add up quickly and people want to be nearby the hospital, so that tends to be the primary thing we focus on,” he said.

The organization also has paid for flights, rental cars and gas money so that people can see their loved ones in the hospital.

“Just to be a small part of this healing process has been very gratifying and just thankful to be in a position to help others,” he said.

Gentry has also become a motivational speaker, which is partly inspired by his coach at Ohio State, Jim Tressel, who always encouraged the team to think about what their life would be like after football.

“When my career came to an early end, obviously my focus was on recovery at first, but then I realized I’ve been given a huge blessing of this platform,” he said.

Gentry and his nonprofit are auctioning off tickets for this year’s Ohio State versus Michigan game. So far they’ve raised over $16,000. The goal is to raise as much money as possible to help even more families.