April 15, 2018, marks the fifth Gift of Life Donor Dash in which the family of the late Cody Souders will be participating in Philadelphia. Here is their team, “Cody’s Crew and Savannah’s Too,” from a previous Donor Dash. The event raises money and awareness for organ donation.
Courtesy of Lehigh Valley Live.
Cody Souders graduated June 17, 2013, from Easton Area High School. He died from a drug overdose four and a half months later at age 18.
When he’d gotten his driver’s license at 16, he chose to become an organ donor. That decision would help improve the lives of more than 50 people, his mother, Amy Souders, said this week.
On Sunday, Souders and about 30 family and friends of her late son will take part in the 23rd annual Donor Dash in Philadelphia, a fundraiser and awareness event for the nonprofit organ donation organization Gift of Life. Their group does the 3K walk, offered in addition to 5K and 10K runs, and includes Delaware County resident Tom Burke, the recipient of Cody’s liver.
“That’s like the only silver lining in the whole thing,” Souders said of her son’s organ donation. “And the fact that we’ve met some of his recipients, it’s amazing to know that their lives have been extended.”
Cody was a freshman at Penn State University — “just a real outgoing, artsy kind of kid,” said his mother, who lives in Forks Township. “Real smart, witty and just everybody liked to be around him. Good kid.