Kollin’s Crusade garners hundreds of boxes of crayons

Jenica Fry knows how depleted a hospital’s stash of crayons can get this time of year.

And Fry, who is a paramedic for the Memorial Pediatric Critical Care Transport Team, is always looking for ways to honor her son and bring more awareness to stillbirth, she decided to start a collection.

She set a goal of 100 boxes this fall.

But her family, friends, coworkers and others in the community went above and beyond that goal, both for the young patients at Memorial Children’s Hospital and as another way to remember Kollin, who would be turning 6 in February.

Kollin was born still, having suffered from a condition called Trisomy 18. Also known as Edwards syndrome, this condition results when there is an error in cell division in utero. An extra chromosome 18 disrupts the normal pattern of development and can be life-threatening, even before birth.

“We were alerted to Kollin’s condition at his 20 week ultrasound and had his diagnosis confirmed through amniocentesis about three weeks later,” Fry said. “We chose to carry him as long as he was able to fight.”

She delivered Kollin still at 33 weeks and two days.

The Frys participate in the March of Dimes March for Babies every spring with the team name “Kollin’s Crew.”

And the family, including her husband, Andrew, and their daughters Noelle, 4 and Cecelia, 2, recently delivered 579 boxes of crayons to Memorial Children’s Hospital.

“I’m humbled by the outpouring of support we received,” Fry said.