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Hazel Coldiron Loves Hoops.

Updated: Apr 28


I’ve never met Hazel Coldiron, but I plan to soon, and I believe I’ll get that chance on Saturday, May 2 - Derby Day. More about that later.


Why do I want to meet Hazel Coldiron? Lots of reasons. One is that apparently we both love hoops! Kindred-hoops spirits, I’ll call us. Check this out. I learned this through an email exchange I had with her and her Dad.


  1. Hazel loves college basketball. I love college basketball.

  2. Hazel is the manager of her middle school basketball team in Nashville, and was the assistant coach for her younger sister Clara’s team. I’ve coached basketball teams all my life, from first graders to high school.

  3. Hazel’s favorite NBA team is the Philadelphia 76ers. My favorite player of all time is Julius “Dr. J” Erving, the legendary NBA Hall of Famer who played for the 76ers. I love "The Sixers.”

  4. One of Hazel’s favorite college basketball players is Goose Givens, a star small forward for the Kentucky Wildcats from 1975-1978. Goose’s senior year was 1978, when I was 13 years old. Hazel is 13. Hands down, my favorite player from that UK team was, you guessed it, Goose Givens. Finally ... [drum roll please]

  5. Hazel has no second favorite team! She LOVES the University of Kentucky!!! And, I …. ok, well, like I said, Hazel loves Kentucky basketball. Sorry, Hazel, I went to Ole Miss. Hotty Toddy!

Hazel Coldiron, eldest daughter of Whiskey House trustee David Coldiron and his wife Christina, is one of the 1-in-2,500 people who live with Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a progressive, degenerative disease involving the peripheral nerves that branch out from the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body, including the arms, hands, legs and feet. CMT was discovered in 1886 by doctors Jean-Martin Charcot, Pierre Marie, and Howard Henry Tooth, for whom the disorder was named. Country music superstar Alan Jackson also has CMT.


“When Hazel was three years old, a lady at the park where we’d taken Hazel to play noticed something about her gait as she ran and played, and suggested we take Hazel to a neurologist,” says David. “This kind woman let us know that she was a physical therapist, so we took her advice.”


Not too long after that visit, following a series of tests, the Coldirons’ family pediatrician came to the house to personally deliver the news that Hazel had CMT. Obviously, stunned and sad, David and Christina were also determined. “We gave ourselves one week to process the news, and then Christina and I went on the offensive.”


The two traveled the country to assemble a medical team that would provide Hazel with the best care possible. From geneticists to pediatric neurologists to the designers and makers of specialty orthotics.


As I said, I haven’t met Hazel yet, but in hearing David talk about the lengths to which he and Christina sought the best-of-the-best care for their sweet daughter, I get a sense of why Hazel is as resilient as I’ve been told she is. David says that Hazel doesn’t let CMT define her, that she’s full of joy like a 13-year-old should be, and that she’s an amazing big sister!


In response to an email I sent her, Hazel wrote, “People who have CMT can adapt and do most of the same things that others can do. ”She followed that up with some advice that all of us should heed: “Focus on things you can do and not on any limitations.”


As David, Christina, Hazel and Clara continue to stay on the offensive in the fight to find a cure for CMT. That’s where the COLDIRON DERBY Fundraiser comes in.


This year’s COLDIRON DERBY will be held, Saturday, May 2 at Nelson’s Greenbriar Distillery from 2:15 - 6:30 pm. Featuring the Kentucky Derby viewing, bourbon tastings, Silent and Live Auctions, Hors D’oeuvres, an open bar and live music, the event raises money for the Charcot Marie Tooth Association." Christina and I are native Kentuckians, so this event was a natural,” says David, who has been hosting this fundraiser for several years.


More information on this year’s COLDIRON DERBY can be found here: www.rosewoodtn.com/


And, for more information about CMT, visit https://cmtausa.org/

One final thought.


You should know that Hazel, for all the love, joy, encouragement, perseverance, and courage that she brings to each day of her life - Hazel can be a bit of a rule breaker. I learned from her Dad that she skipped a day of school in March.


Yes, Hazel, my kindred hoop spirit, lover of UK hoops, former assistant coach - with mom and dad's scheming (um, permission) skipped an entire day of school to watch and cheer for her beloved Kentucky Wildcats play during March Madness. Hazel, you're the best!

Hope to see everyone at COLDIRON DERBY!



 
 
 
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