Colin told his mom there would be no point in throwing a birthday party because all of the kids at school "don't like me" and "make fun of me." His mom Jennifer describes Colin as having a condition similar to Asperger's syndrome that causes him to struggle with facial expressions and verbal cues.
That's when Colin's mom came up with a special surprise. She created a Facebook page called "Happy Birthday Colin" where people can leave birthday messages for Colin, and it's getting lots of attention.
Leave a birthday wish on Colin's page
"I am Colin's mom, I created this page for my amazing, wonderful, challenging son who is about to turn 11 on March 9th," she wrote February 2. "Because of Colin's disabilities, social skills are not easy for him, and he often acts out in school, and the other kids don't like him... He eats lunch alone in the office everyday because no one will let him sit with them.
"So I thought, if I could create a page where people could send him positive thoughts and encouraging words, that would be better than any birthday party. Please join me in making my very original son feel special on his day," Mom wrote.
The page has 1,979,916 likes as of 5:30 p.m. Monday, February 17. Colin's mom said she's hoping to keep it a secret until March 9. But he's already heard chatter at school about being on the news. And he was featured Wednesday morning on GMA.
Mom Jennifer, who also has a daughter, Ella, says it was actually not Colin's birthday that inspired her to turn to Facebook but the actions of fellow parents at Colin's school.
"The main thing was finding out that a lot of parents were trying to get their kids out of Colin's class and the teacher told him," Jennifer told GoodMorningAmerica.com. "His peers don't understand him but every adult who meets him loves him so I thought I would go to a place where adults and my friends are, Facebook, and have them write nice messages to Colin so I could share them on his birthday."
