Woman Who Got Boy’s Eye Wasn’t His Mother

A woman who regained her sight with a cornea transplant from the 15-year-old son she lost in a traffic accident now admits she wasn’t his biological mother.

“My son, Christopher, was my son, my child, but not my blood. I mothered him and took care of him for 12 years. I was his mommy,” Susan Colin said in a statement last week. “Yes, I should have corrected this earlier. I just couldn’t.”

Colin received a cornea March 23 from Christopher Colin, who had died days earlier. She authorized the release of his organs; in all, at least five people received transplants.

Colin had said she was the mother of three--Christopher, 13-year-old Nic and 9-year-old Astarte. She confirmed at a news conference Thursday that she wasn’t the biological mother of any of them.

At the news conference, a letter purporting to be from Christopher’s biological mother was read, saying she left Christopher in Colin’s care and agreed with the decision to donate his organs. The woman was not identified.

Glenn Bolick, a spokesman for the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency, said his organization had made “a good-faith effort to get consent from legal next of kin. We see no problems.”