About Colton Hunt
To know Colton is to love him. To know Colton is to be changed by him. He was the strongest, wisest person we’ve ever known, trapped in an eight year old’s body. Born with Down’s Syndrome. Diagnosed at 2 with a congenital heart defect. Diagnosed at 3 with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. A relapse and a bone marrow transplant. Another relapse and experimental CAR-T Cell therapy. Another relapse and it was time to let Colton live and it was time for his family to make memories together.
Colton lived life fully, joyfully, with abandon. He would want that for all children in every phase of treatment and relapse. This Foundation is Colton’s mission. We will just try to make him as proud as he made us.
Tributes to Colton
Samantha Balaze Tribute:
There aren’t enough words in the world to describe how special Colton was, what he stood for, and how he impacted his sister’s best friend. Getting to know Colton over the short few years we had, was absolutely one of the biggest blessings I could have ever asked for. When I think of Colton, I do not think of a young boy who let his illness define him. Instead, I admire him with every ounce of my being. He was this young boy, nearly one-third of my age, facing health issues that most hope to never endure. To unimaginable admiration, he pushed his problems aside and made everyone else around him smile, cry, and most of all… laugh. I have never met someone who was so selfless and caring than him. Whether he was in pain, not feeling well, or just having a bad day – Colton thought about others before himself, no matter what. I have also never met someone who could convince every single person in his presence to “just try” anything he wanted you to do…. now imagine how much trouble, laughing until your stomach hurt, and smiles quickly followed those moments. My memories of Colton are filled with dancing, singing, smiling and most of all, filled with love. This special little boy of only 8 years was the one who taught me life’s most important lessons that I will always live by. He taught us all to embrace everyone for who they are, not what they have. He taught us to always smile, and “just try” even through the bad times, because truly… there is someone else experiencing much worse. But most of all, Colton taught to love with no limits. Colton was smart, Colton was kind, and Colton was strong. This boy brought peace to our hearts and minds, and taught us to hold on to what we hold dear. To say he motivated me, and pushed me to be a better person, would be a complete understatement. I think of my sweet boy every day, and know he is with me always. There will never someone as brave, as strong, or as special as Colton. As our days move on, we are choosing to honor his life by trying to give others the same opportunities that Colton was so fortunate to receive, because that is the way he would have wanted it.
Scott Gwisdalla’s Tribute
I was blessed to be able to have my own special bond with Colton. It began as us being more friends than family, but over the years as time went on, we became brothers. We bonded over many different things, sports being a huge part of our relationship we spent countless hours playing all types of games, football of course being our favorite, but beyond the sports I was lucky enough to learn so many things from Colton. Being one of the many by his side during his fight Colton taught me about true strength, what it meant to live everyday with all the love and happiness you have, what it meant to look adversity in the face and continue to push forward with no restraint and that no matter what the challenge is you can always “just try”. Even during the days Colton was at his worst, he was still better than us all. After my last football game, I was upset and Colton who just got done with weeks of chemo asked to get out of his stroller and hugged me and said, “everything was going to be okay”. Here he was a 7-year-old boy at the time, fighting for his life against cancer and he still wanted to comfort me because I was upset over a football game, that to me shows better than anything else what kind of person Colton was. He always made those around him feel good even when he didn’t and I can only hope this foundation touches and changes others’ lives the way he has touched and changed mine.