Lewis-Palmer senior focused on helping girl walk
If Collene Larson has to write one of those “How I spent my summer vacation” essays this fall, she will have quite a story to tell.
The 17-year-old Lewis-Palmer High School student is raising money for life-changing surgery for a girl in the Dominican Republic.
Collene has raised $2,700, but needs another $2,000. To get closer to her goal, she and friends will hold a car wash Saturday in Monument.
Her quest started last Thanksgiving during another school vacation. Collene and her family went to the Dominican Republic with their church, The Gathering, which is partnering with Colorado Springs-based Vision Trust International to help impoverished children.
Collene said she was dismayed at seeing children living in tin lean-tos with no running water and little food.
She met eight-year-old Esmailyn Ramirez at the unveiling of a playground.
Esmaiyln couldn’t play on the gym equipment because she uses a wheelchair, Collene said.
The girl has osteogenesis imperfecta, a congenital condition causing extremely fragile bones susceptible to fracture.
Collene used her Spanish language skills to asked if she could help. Other children were kept off the playground while Collene carried Esmailyn, who weighs less than a four-year-old, from ride to ride.
“I think she was scared, she held onto me really tight. But she had the biggest smile on her face,” Collene said. Later, she wheeled the girl to several booths, painting her fingernails and helping her with crafts.
“I didn’t want to leave her. I felt so blessed,” Collene said.
Back home, she couldn’t get Esmailyn out of her mind. She became the girl’s sponsor through Vision Trust, providing $35 a month using money from janitorial work she does at a veterinarian hospital.
There is no cure for Esmailyn’s condition, but there are therapies that can help, including surgery to place metal rods into the long bones of the legs. Esmailyn’s family was offered low cost surgery through a Dominican organization, but was required to pay a portion. They could not afford it.
“I said I would pay for it,” Collene said.
Shortly before school let out for summer she raised $150 by sponsoring an event where kids paid $1 for permission to wear hats. She raised another $100 during finals. She’s put colorful donation jars out in some Monument businesses, and organized a garage sale with the help of friends, family and church members.
At one point, Collene caught a virus.
“I think it was because she was so run down from all the fundraising work,” said her mom Lisa Larson. “She won’t stop day and night. She has always had a real heart for children.”
Lisa Carter, VisionTrust’s manger of sponsorship services, said, “Colleen is awesome. I haven’t seen a high schooler go the extra mile like she has. It’s amazing.”
Colleen is writing a script for a murder mystery event she hopes will bring in more dollars.
She’s active in her school’s theater program, and wants to gather some classmates to help with the event, which will include a prize drawing and dessert. Her church offered space.
She created a Facebook page: Help Save Esmailyn’s Life; Vision Trust accepts donations in Esmailyn’s name.
At times, Colleen said, she became stressed and discouraged because there was so much to do and she feared she would fail.
“I’m learning to put it in the hands of God,” she said.
In a few weeks Colleen will start her senior year. Eventually, she might like to be an Air Force pilot like her father.
But before all that, she has something she wants to do.
“My dream is to go back and see Esmailyn walking.”
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