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Football coach fights to walk again after random shooting, and he needs your help

Friends and family members are raising money to send Todd Shelton to an intense rehabilitation program out-of-state.

FERGUSON, Mo. — After seven years together, Jackie Waters looks backs at photos with Todd Shelton taken over the years and plans for a lifetime of more memories.

"Every special moment, he has been there," Waters said of her fiancé.

But there's one moment she can't talk about.

"Experiencing that, it's very hard to talk about, but I am just thankful that we are both living," Waters said of the February shooting that paralyzed Shelton.

The couple was headed home after seeing a movie and visiting with family in February when someone started shooting at them. Police think it was a case of mistaken identity.

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Waters escaped the gunfire, but a bullet severed Shelton's spinal cord.

Shelton's spent the past month in ICU under a protective order, only immediate family can visit, and no cell phones are allowed.

A football, wrestling, and track-and-field coach at McClure South-Berkeley High School, friends and student have sent cards and organized a fundraiser to raise money for an intense rehabilitation program.

As a paraplegic, it's unclear if Shelton will ever take the field again, but Waters says the former college football player is keeping up his competitive attitude as he fights for mobility.

"He is always that go-getter," Waters said. "He's always been that type of person that nobody is going to outwork me."

If you would like to help, a GoFundMe page has been started to help with medical bills.

Follow reporter Sara Machi on Facebook and Twitter

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