Colleen Kelly Alexander: One Year Later, Moving Forward And Helping Others

This article was reported and written by Ashton Edwards. It was posted on Madison Patch by Pem McNerney. To find out more about Colleen Kelly Alexander's accident and recovery, read this article in Yale Medicine. 


A wonderful year long wait between Leprechaun Races

It was just a year ago that the Leprechaun 5M Race Day brought forth the effervescent presence, athleticism, vibrancy, and dedication to life in one Colleen Kelly Alexander.

Because of her near-death experience on the Boston Post Road in 2011, she wasn’t able to exactly “burst on the scene”. 

However, she sure did attract a lot of people to her cause, her recovery, and to her participation as a major figure involved the Leprechaun Race Series.

The Start – Leprechaun 2012   Having walked last year in the 20th Leprechaun 5M with a walker as “an assist”, Colleen was careful to measure her steps along side her injured walking partner, Erin Spaulding.  Although Colleen had hoped this year to repeat her sojourn with Erin in the 21st Leprechaun 5M events on March 24th, Erin required treatments that precluded her participating with Colleen.

This Year – Leprechaun 2013   But Colleen is a dedicated athlete, and can always see the positive elements of every possible situation and condition.  So, this year it was simple:  Let’s run, not walk.

And run she did, this time with her husband, Sean, along side; they finished their 5-mile journey together, and in a lot less than an hour’s run.  As she finished and hugged me just over the finish line, she couldn’t stop exclaiming that “the whole process was surreal”….to be running 5 miles when just one-year prior she’d been hobbling “across the line.”

Going Forward and helping Others   Colleen’s story continues to be a magnificent recovery for her, but more importantly she’s redirected her recovery trials and incredible rebuilding for the good of others.

She started out to create a Trauma Support Group to be headquartered at Running Start in Branford.

However, after a few months, she discovered the local market was too limited, and is now helping those who need support on-line with Achilles International whose programs focus on athletics as the source to bring hope, inspiration and joys of achievement to people with disabilities. 

Also, she’s become active sponsoring and supporting mentors she’s grown to know and helped keep her focused throughout her recovery. 

The recent event for the public to hear one of the important resources in her life was held on Thursday, April 4th when Jody Williams spoke at The Kate, an event organized by Colleen. 

Jody received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work as founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which shared the Peace Prize with her that year. At that time, she became the 10th woman in its almost 100-year history to receive the Prize. She also is an inspiration and friend to Colleen, who also spoke at The Kate that night.