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Milestone Celebrations!
Easter Seals Representatives Graduate to New Opportunities

Easter Seals Congratulates Bethany, Colin and Palmer!

Their stories show how your support can help people living with disabilities accomplish their goals and reach life’s milestones. Please donate today and show your support.

Almost a decade has passed since Bethany and Colin DeVault of Easton, Pa., and Palmer Harston of Lexington, Ky., served as Easter Seals Representatives -- in 1999 and 2000. A lot has changed since then, but Bethany, Colin and Palmer are still shining examples of how Easter Seals makes a difference in people’s lives.


“Easter Seals gave me the foundation to get where I am today”

Bethany and Colin DeVault were born with spina bifida, a condition caused by an opening in the spinal cord. Both began receiving Easter Seals services as very young children and benefited from early intervention classes and physical, occupational and speech therapy, and hippotherapy. Learn more about Bethany and Colin in this story from 1999.

Bethany DeVault

Bethany DeVault

Colin DeVault

Colin DeVault
Today, Bethany is a recent graduate of Notre Dame High School in Bethlehem, Pa. A talented wheelchair basketball player, she’ll attend the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater this fall on an athletic scholarship. Colin will begin his sophomore year at Curry College in Milton, Mass. where he is studying to become a math teacher.

“Easter Seals means the world to me,” says Colin. Reflecting on her experience with Easter Seals, Bethany says, “they gave me the foundation to get where I am today.”


 

Giving back

Palmer Harston

Palmer Harston
In 1995, Palmer Harston, her sister Taylor, and their mother, Julie, were seriously injured in a car accident. Palmer suffered a complete spinal cord injury that caused paralysis. She received physical and occupational therapy services at Easter Seals and learned how to use a wheelchair and to perform everyday skills. She also resumed her active schedule as a young gymnast. With hard work and the help of others, Palmer was able to return to middle school, graduate from high school and earn a scholarship to Vanderbilt University.

Now, Palmer is giving back. For the past two summers, she has worked with AIDS orphans in Africa. As a May 2008 graduate, she’s traveling to Europe this summer and then plans to move to South Africa for a year to continue her work there. Then, on her return, she’s headed to law school to focus on adoption law.