Nate Rhoades suffered serious injuries in a collision with a semi-truck in January 2022. In order to preserve his organs, the personal trainer was placed on life support after being deemed brain dead.
Five days after turning 21, he passed away. His legacy continues today through a charity centre that assists at-risk youth and young adults dealing with substance use and mental health issues, as well as his organ donations, which have benefitted up to 100 others, including a guy from Washington State with whom Nate's family has become close.
"Nate is on the other side, just, I mean, opening doors for us," we say all the time. Heidi Allison, Nate's mother, tells people about her son, who struggled with addiction as a teenager before overcoming it. "Because we've experienced so many miraculous things happen."
According to Allison and her husband Larry Rhoades, their only child, who was born 12 weeks early and weighed just over 2 pounds, was a "little fighter." She remembers that Nate, who was in the hospital for roughly six weeks following his birth, was an extreme extrovert with anxiety, gastrointestinal problems, and ADHD.
“He just loved people,” the therapist says. “Both Larry and I have been in recovery from alcohol for many years. So, we sat down with him when he was eight and nine and said, ‘Look. You're going to have to be so careful because both your parents have had issues with alcohol.’ ”
But eventually, he and his friends began to experiment with different drugs. One morning, after the teen got a hold of some pills, the parents say he was found “barely conscious.” After relapsing, he was sent back to a residential treatment facility.
According to Allison, 65, "something clicked" at that moment, and Nate was assisted in staying sober by a peer recovery coach. After completing his studies in addiction studies at Oxnard College in California, he went on to earn his certification as a fitness trainer at Gold's Gym in the area, where he remained until his death.
“His real passion was exercise, fitness, and helping people,” Larry, 80, says.
Allison reports that a number of people came to the hospital to bid Nate farewell and share anecdotes about him following his accident. His girlfriend and his family looked on in wonder.
Source: People.com