Within minutes of beginning a conversation with Scott Colliton, his compassion for children becomes evident. He is a pediatrician at Children’s Mercy Hospital, specializing in children with special health care needs, and international adoption.
His choice of specialty came about for several reasons. “When I was in grade school, and up, I was very disappointed with kids who would tease other kids because they were 'different',” Scott said. “I would say to myself, that’s just not right.” He also is keenly aware of the stories of children in other countries who are living on the streets, or left to die. He described hearing about how at one orphanage, babies being dropped off are placed on something similar to a dumbwaiter. Then a bell is pressed and the dumbwaiter revolves so that someone on the inside of the orphanage can remove the infant. Scott is just glad to know that some children are rescued or adopted and have another chance. “It touches my heart knowing what could have been,” Scott said, “but feeling it was God’s grace that they were rescued and given the chance for a better life.”
 |
| Dr. Scott Colliton (center) with two sisters from Poland |
Scott said he also had a love of medical science beginning when he was young, and still does today. “I am intrigued by patients with complicated problems,” he said. “What they go through every day. I have a very strong admiration for that.” Those elements combined - compassion for children and an interest in medical science, formed his career choice.
It’s a career that brings joy and heartbreak, problem solving, satisfaction and frustration, and at times enables Scott to form lifelong relationships with his patients and families. One such case was Erin, a 9-year-old Scott met while he was in training. It was a few days before Christmas, and Scott had to tell her parents that their daughter had leukemia. It was his first experience with having to tell someone such dreaded news. He and his wife left shortly thereafter to spend the holiday with family. “I couldn’t quit thinking about them,” Scott said of Erin’s family. “It was almost obsessive. I kept seeing their heartbroken faces when I gave them the news. It was not a fun holiday for me.”
But now, Erin’s story brings him joy. She made it through treatment, and since then graduated from high school, with Scott in attendance, and has gotten married. Scott said he still receives updates.
Because Scott sees so many children with chronic special health care needs, and thus in many instances a shortened life span, he also must deal with a lot of death. “This is always an emotional and painful experience,” Scott said. And he doesn’t mourn from a distance, but often attends their funerals.
The most painful part of his job, Scott said, is child abuse. When he sees a child with critical injuries, and often long-lasting debilitating injuries, from, for example, being shaken, it rocks him to his core. “How such innocent vibrant children can have their lives changed in essentially just a minute is devastating,” Scott said. He carries a special kind of pain for those children who would have been healthy were it not for someone who physically harmed them.
Thankfully, Scott also handles well-baby visits, and follow-up care for healthy children. “The kids who are not as sick counter-balance the kids who are sick,” he said. He also helps several times a month at the international adoption clinic. In fact, Scott and his wife have a daughter of their own, adopted from Bolivia, who is now 11.
Scott said he can’t help forming relationships with his patients. Many of them he sees weekly, sometimes for troubleshooting, because with chronic illness you can also have more instances of seizures and infections, things that require more visits to the doctor. It brings him joy to see the children he has cared for grow into adolescents, and adults. He has one patient, a girl named Kayla, who he has seen since birth, and who is now 22. Kayla has cerebral palsy, and is in a wheelchair. Scott’s care and concern for Kayla meant enough to her mother that she suggested Scott’s name for a segment of Pay it Forward on the local television station Fox 4.
The episode aired in early June. Scott said he had no idea this was coming. “When I arrived at the clinic,” he said, “a nurse told me a family was waiting for me. I opened the door and walked in and there’s a camera.” Kayla’s mom wanted to honor Scott for his dedication and patience in caring for her daughter, by paying the kindness forward with a gift of $300. Scott said that off-camera, he gave the money back, but still he was touched. To see the episode, follow this link: http://fox4kc.com/2013/06/03/mom-thanks-awesome-doctor-who-shows-kindness-to-special-needs-daughter/
 |
| Bronze statue in cemetery |
All of his work, the hope it brings even among death, can be summed up in the image of a 9-year-old boy’s grave site he and his wife saw in the western United States. “We both froze and became silent with tears streaming down our cheeks,” Scott said. “It was a statue, obviously for a special needs kid. He was stepping out of his wheelchair, and reaching toward the heavens. And my thought when I saw this was that he was saying, ‘Thank you Lord for freeing me of my illness and letting me come to you.’”
No comments:
Post a Comment