Colton Leest uplifts sick children with handmade cards
Colton Leest, of Brookhaven, has been encouraging people to create handmade get-well cards that are then distributed to youngsters undergoing treatment at Stony Brook Children's Hospital. Credit: South Country Central School District
A Brookhaven boy whose older brother has a rare genetic epilepsy that left him unable to walk or talk has been striving to uplift other sick children.
Colton Leest, who just finished the fifth grade at Frank P. Long Intermediate School in Bellport, launched an initiative three years ago that encourages people to create handmade get-well cards that are then distributed to children undergoing treatment at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital.
So far, the initiative — called Cards by Colton — has resulted in the creation and distribution of more than 3,000 handmade cards, including 1,500 cards this year alone.
“I love how it’s taken off, and I’ve been in shock for a while,” Colton, 10, said of the volume of cards. Of his motivation to distribute the cards to sick children, he said: “I just want to make them smile and have an awesome day.”
Colton’s initiative was inspired by his 13-year-old brother, Ethan, who started to suffer from seizures at just 5 months old due to a rare genetic epilepsy that stunted his development and caused him to use a feeding tube. Ethan, whose family affectionately refers to him as “Superman,” was also stricken with aspiration pneumonia at the age of 1 and spent time in the pediatric intensive care unit at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, where his mother, Jessica, credits the staff for “saving his life.”
To cheer up his brother, Colton occasionally creates cards and leaves them on Ethan’s bed to make him smile. That idea expanded in 2023 when Colton’s classmates made cards of their own for hospitalized children at Stony Brook in celebration of Ethan’s birthday — resulting in a total of 218 cards.
Since then, Colton’s initiative has grown to include cards made by local church groups, Girl Scout troops and students at several other Long Island schools — including Division Avenue High School in Levittown, where his mother is a special education teacher.
“Every year it’s gotten bigger and bigger, and every year he wants to beat the goal from the previous year,” his mother said.
Colton spreads the word about his efforts by distributing fliers “everywhere he goes,” including places like local restaurants and his dentist’s office, she said. He also collects donations to help cover the cost of supplies like paper and markers through the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform.
Rina Meyer, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Stony Brook Cancer Center, commended Colton for reminding sick children that “they are not alone.”
“Children with chronic and serious illnesses can sometimes feel isolated and taken out of their normal lives,” Meyer said. “Receiving a cheerful card is a great reminder that people remember them, care about them, and are sending love and good wishes.”
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
