A mother for all days

Kelli Colby

I have learned that it does not matter if your child is young or

grown, alive or passed on -- once a mother, you are a mother for all

days.

Two years ago my son died. He was only 17 1/2 years old.

Matt went to Estancia High School -- where a memorial tree is

planted for him on the hillside -- for three years and later

transferred to Costa Mesa High School.

His death was very sudden. Matt was in his senior year of high

school and was playing in a football game (the game he had loved and

given his all to for nine years), left a huddle, arrived at the

sidelines, lost consciousness, stopped breathing and died.

His death was caused by Second Impact Syndrome, which can happen

if a person with an unhealed head injury sustains another blow to the

head. One moment he was filled with life and joy and the next I was

in the hospital hearing the doctors pronounce him brain dead.

At the hospital, sitting with my child, I was approached by an

organization that I have since come to know well and work with often.

OneLegacy came and asked if I had considered organ donation and would

I consider it now. So, I did.

At the time I had been a nurse for more than 10 years and had always made sure to put the pink donor sticker on my driver’s

license. Matt and I had never talked about donation for him (it was

unfathomable that it would ever be an issue), but I know that he

would have made the same choice. He was a generous, loving and

compassionate person.

Making the decision to give the gift of life has really been the

only comfort I have felt the last two years. Losing him, and dealing

with how his loss has effected every aspect of my life, has been too

hard to put into words. I’m grateful that our gift spared seven other

mothers this agony.

There are more than 84,000 people currently waiting for a

life-saving organ; more than 2,000 are younger than 18. Today there

are 84,000 mothers praying for one gift that will save their child’s

life.

Now, I work with OneLegacy as an ambassador. I tell my story to

inspire others to donate life.

I also share my story so that Matt Colby is never forgotten and

his life does not fade. I tell people about the way he enriched the

lives of all who were blessed to know him, and his love of family,

friends, football and fishing. And especially about the precious gift

of life he gave to others.

Each time I tell Matt’s story, his memory is alive.

Today I ask that you remember Matt and all of the organ and tissue

donors who brought a child back to their mother, or a mother to her

child.

His 20th birthday would have been the 29th of this month. I don’t

like May all that well yet, with Mother’s Day and his birthday, but

each year seems to be a little easier though.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and I am a mother for all days.

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Since her son’s death, Kelli Colby has moved from

Costa Mesa to Northern California.