The Littlest Hero

There may be fewer words in the American lexicon used more easily and carelessly than “hero.” These days, nearly anyone can qualify for the moniker. 

But beyond the obvious like firefighters, police, and other first responders, there are the smaller everyday heroes who may never make the news.

Like Sebastian Perez. 

Perez, 14, who was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a hereditary disease causing his bones to fracture easily, when he was an infant, qualifies easily. 

Osteogenesis imperfecta, also referred to as brittle bone disease, is a genetic or hereditary condition characterized by frequent bone fractures occurring either spontaneously or due to minor trauma, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

One of seven children born to Evelia Perez,  Sebastian has been a patient at Shriners Children’s Southern California since he was five months old. 

On Friday, Sebastian was celebrated at Pasadena’s Shriners Children’s Hospital  by the Baskin-Robbins Joy in Childhood Foundation as this year’s “Pint-Sized Hero.”

The Foundation presented a check for $31,000 to the hospital on Sebastians’s behalf, to support Shriners Children’s child life programming.

Sebastian himself will also help decide specifically how the grant will be used to help patients. 

The brand is also treating Sebastian and his family to a year of free ice cream.

Sebastian was all smiles at the ice cream social and check presentation held in his honor, but according to his mother, he is that way every day, despite his condition. 

“He has every right to be upset with life and to be sad,” she said, Friday. “But, no matter what and despite his condition, he is someone who always finds a way to make it into something positive. He doesn’t allow us to be sad around him. He doesn’t want that.” 

Asked about his special day on Friday, Sebastian said he felt “very, very, good.”

 Buckled into a wheelchair to protect his delicate structure,  Sebastian added, “It’s just everybody being together and everybody enjoying their time, and everyone having fun.” 

With countless surgeries endured over the years, Sebastian has also taken it upon himself to help spread a positive attitude to his fellow patients at Shriners Children’s.

He founded “Born 4 Fast,” a charity event that brings local car communities together to host toy drives, when he was only 9 year old. Through social media networking, he has organized car rallies and invited his car enthusiast friends to go on fun drives through Southern California. 

Since the program’s inception, he has personally helped raise $26,000 for Shriners Children’s.  

Funds from the Pint-Sized Heroes grant to Shriners Children’s will support the Baskin-Robbins Joy in Childhood Foundation’s Pint-Sized Heroes program to recognize pediatric patients in children’s hospitals nationwide.

Shriners Children’s Southern California is a medical center at 909 S. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena that provides specialized care to children with orthopedic conditions, burn scars, cleft lip and palate, and other special health care needs — regardless of the families’ ability to pay. They provide vital, pioneering treatment from birth to age 18.

 More information about the Pint-Sized Heroes program is available at www.bringjoy.org.