After son dies, parents bond with man who received their heart and liver (Exclusive)

• Nate Rhoades, 21, died in a car accident in January 2022 in California after recovering from an addiction.
• His parents opened a nonprofit wellness and recovery center named in their son’s honor, while Rhoades’ organs have helped up to 100 people, including Skylar Collins, who reached out to the 21-year-old’s parents.
• “Our son and we are paying it forward,” Nate’s father tells PEOPLE

In January 2022, Nate Rhoades was seriously injured in an accident with a semi truck. The personal trainer was declared brain dead and put on life support to keep his organs alive. He died five days after his 21st birthday.

Today, his legacy lives on through his organ donations that have helped up to 100 people—including a man from Washington state whom Nate’s family reached out to—as well as a nonprofit center that helps at-risk teens and young adults who struggles with substance use and mental health challenges.

“We always say, ‘Nate is on the other side, just, I mean, he opens doors for us,’” Nate’s mother, Heidi Allison, tells PEOPLE of her son, who had an addiction as a teenager before getting serious. “Because so many miraculous things have happened to us.”

Allison says her and husband Larry Rhoades’ only child was a “little fighter,” who was born 12 weeks early weighing just over 2 pounds. Nate, who was hospitalized for about six weeks after birth, had anxiety, gastrointestinal issues, ADHD and was an extreme extrovert, she recalls.

“He just loved people,” says the therapist. “Both Larry and I have been in alcohol recovery for many years. So, we sat down with (him) when he was eight and nine years old and said, “Look. You will have to be so careful because both of your parents had problems with alcohol. “

But eventually he and his friends started experimenting with different drugs. One morning, after the teenager took some pills, the parents say he was found “barely conscious.” He was then sent to a residential treatment center, relapsed and was sent back.

Allison, 65, says “something clicked” in that second, and a peer recovery coach helped Nate stay sober. He studied Addiction Studies at Oxnard College in California and even became a certified fitness trainer at a local Gold’s Gym, where he worked until his death.

“His true passion was exercise, fitness and helping people,” says Larry, 80.

After his accident, Allison says several visitors came to the hospital to say goodbye to Nate and tell stories about him. His family and girlfriend watched in awe.

“At one point, one of us, we can’t remember who, but one of us said, ‘Oh my God, this is like Nate’s place at the hospital,'” the therapist recalls. “We came up with the idea, ‘Well, maybe we can do something with this to help other people, other kids, like he did.’ ”

This inspired them to open Nate’s Place, a wellness and recovery center in 2023. The center offers one-on-one recovery coaching, group therapies and recreational activities such as boxing, guitar lessons and table tennis. Heidi says more than 250 people have benefited from it so far.

But the parents admit that their son also had a more solemn tangible legacy – helping strangers with his organ donations.

“What you produce is to help someone else live,” says Larry. “We and our son are paying it forward.”

The couple say they have written a letter to each of Nate’s donors, saying they are “so happy” their son can help them. They got some answers. One from Skylar Collins, who received Nate’s heart and liver, really set them apart.

“Oh my God,” Allison recalled in the letter, which said. “I was so happy to receive your letter. You can’t believe what I’ve been through.” Then he said he would like to meet them.

Collins, 31, tells PEOPLE she was born with hypoplastic right heart syndromemeaning he was missing a right ventricle. At the time he received the transplant, he had about 10 heart surgeries.

When Collins was told he needed a transplant in 2017, he shares he was a little skeptical. In the end, he realized that he had to move on because he wanted to “live, not die.”

“I had goals and achievements that I wanted to do,” he adds. “We’re not done here.” The husband says it was a years-long process that sent him from hospital to hospital — halted briefly because of the pandemic — before he got a “call” on Jan. 25, 2022, that there was a match.

That summer, Allison and Larry had an emotional, nearly hour-and-a-half conversation with Collins and his wife, Alex, on Zoom.

Collins, a social worker, says he’s happy the family quickly cleared him of any blame. “I always thought it was really cool,” he adds. He and his wife continued to bond with Nate’s parents, at one point visiting Nate’s Place during a trip to California.

The Washington man tells PEOPLE he feels a deep connection to Nate and his family. Their friendship is everything he dreamed of.

“I really wanted to get to know the donor family, to have a relationship with them,” Collins says.

And while he admits his transplant may not last “forever”, Collins, who is now expecting a child with Alex, feels there is no longer “this dark cloud” hanging over him.

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He also found solace in carrying on Nate’s legacy.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we ended up crossing paths this way,” he adds. “So while I still carry my own legacy and my own purpose, I think I carry his as well. I think I’ve been given the responsibility to carry that mentality of helping people, encouraging people, being there for people, for both of us.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.