A Canadian Forces reservist from Toronto is thankful for the support he has received following a tragic hockey accident that could leave him quadriplegic.

Alex Dritsas of the Queen’s Own Rifles was goaltending during a recreational hockey game last Sunday when he collided with another player. Dritsas sustained a shattered C4 vertebra in the accident.

Alex was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital, where emergency surgery was performed, and where he remains in intensive care.

“Alex can’t move anything below his elbows or knees,” his brother, Andre Dritsas, said in an interview with CTVNews.ca.

Alex does have some feeling in his abdomen, and has managed to start eating solid foods again, but permanent paralysis is possible, Andre said.

The irony, according to Andre, is that Alex was involved in a mortar attack in Afghanistan in 2010, but managed to escape relatively unscathed.

“He had a metal wallet, a cardholder, (and) a piece of shrapnel got stuck in the cardholder that was in his left pants’ pocket,” Andre said. “He kept the shrapnel.”

After a family friend heard about last Sunday’s accident, he started an online fundraiser to help with expected costs related to a long rehabilitation process.

As of Saturday evening, 170 people had donated more than $12,000 through the website GoFundMe.com.

“When we showed him what it was becoming, he was like, ‘Just give everybody the money back,’” said Andre.

But Alex has since decided that he will accept the money, Andre said, and plans to donate any that’s left to Wounded Warriors Canada, an organization that supports ill and injured veterans and their families.

When Wounded Warriors Canada heard about Alex’s accident earlier this week, they invited Andre – also a hockey player – to participate in their fifth annual Heroes Hockey Challenge.

On Friday night, Andre laced up alongside a team of local soldiers at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens. He helped take on a Johnny Bower-coached team of Toronto Maple Leafs alumni (The Leafs alumni won 9-7).

“It was really humbling just to skate with those guys,” said Andre.

After the game, he got Wendel Clark to record a video greeting for Alex.

“We’re pullin’ for you bud,” the former Toronto Maple Leafs player says in the video.

According to Andre, “Alex didn’t say much,” when he was shown the video, “but he liked it.”