Princeton High student Helene Cody remembered

By Maria Prato-Gaines, The Packet Group
   CRANBURY — On the eve of her 16th birthday, surrounded by her family, Helene Cody lay sedated in a hospital bed in the pediatric ward of the St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, about to bestow the only gift she had left to give to the world.
   Despite the hundreds of prayers, letters and well-wishes, Helene died of a brain aneurysm the next day, Oct. 26. She donated her life-saving organs to recipients as one last gesture of generosity.
   The Cody family, including Helene’s mother, Linda; father, Win; and 14-year-old sister, Jenna, still in shock over the sudden loss of Helene, sat quietly at their Adams Drive home Wednesday evening, sorting through the sympathy cards, answering the flood of phone calls and greeting their grieving friends at the front door as best they could.
   Two days earlier, Helene had been sorting through her clothes looking for the right pair of shoes to wear on Twin Day for Spirit Week at Princeton High School, where she was attending her sophomore year.
   But symptoms of her ailment arose earlier that day, when Helene told her mother, a teacher at the high school, that she had a bad headache and wouldn’t be attending her cross country practice.
   ”On the ride into school (Tuesday morning), she asked me to turn off the radio and not go over any bumps,” Ms. Cody said. “I thought it was just a headache.”
   But later that night Helen’s malady struck hard, as Ms. Cody recalls her daughter throwing up and struggling through a series of headaches.
   By Wednesday morning, Helene’s symptoms had concerned her pediatrician, who recommended the Codys take their daughter to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, Ms. Cody said.
   There doctors ran MRIs on Helene’s neck and head and CT scans, before telling the family that their daughter had developed a large aneurysm in her brain and would need surgery. They recommended that she be transferred to the St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, where some of the world’s best pediatric specialist and surgeons in the field worked, Ms. Cody said.
   ”They knew it was very serious — but no one knew she was going to die,” Ms. Cody said.
   It was there in New Brunswick that Ms. Cody remembers some of the last conversations she would ever have with her daughter.
   Helene was talking about toughing it through cross country practice, as she had joined Princeton High School’s team a little more than a year ago, becoming what some newspaper articles recently dubbed as “a late bloomer” and “quality distance runner.” Ms. Cody remembered Helene’s up-beat and positive attitude even toward the end, as she told her mother from her hospital bed that this had been the first day in a year that her legs weren’t hurting.
   At the same time Ms. Cody encouraged Helene to keep strong in her faith — to know that God would be walking alongside her in this journey, reflecting on the poem “Footsteps in the Sand.”
   ”I had a long time with her on Wednesday,” Ms. Cody said peacefully. “I told her, ‘you need to visualize yourself being carried in the eyes of God.’ “
   If anything could get Helene through a tough time it was her faith, her parents said. As a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury and actively involved its youth group, Helene’s strongest foundation was her faith, Ms. Cody said.
   ”I think she was very spiritual and she had a maturity beyond her years,” she said. “It was like she knew something we didn’t.”
   Helene was transferred to the New York Hospital by ambulance Oct. 23, but due to brain swelling, doctors there decided to forgo surgery as it would have been too risky. They eventually decided to induce a coma to help reduce the swelling.
   ”She had every possible resource,” Ms. Cody said. “We just kept hoping, moving her legs so she would still be ready for the next season.”
   But by Sunday, Oct. 26 specialists broke the news to the Codys—— Helene had no brain activity. She died at 4:15 p.m.
   ”It was definitely the worst day of my life,” Mr. Cody said, his eyes tear-filled, describing the numbing pain. “She was so beautiful, so nice. Everybody loved her, all those people — I don’t even know who they are, but they loved her.”
   What Mr. Cody was referring to was the outpouring of support the family has been monitoring on Helene’s facebook.com page. Aside from comments on Helene’s profile, nearly 600 people have joined groups on the site, now set up as virtual memorials to Helene.
   ”Helene was one of my dearest friends,” said Rebecca Saltzman, a fellow PHS student and friend who started the Facebook group “1,000 paper cranes for Helene.”
   ”I don’t think she ever disliked anyone. She was very funny and always made me smile and laugh. Helene was my sunshine every day.”
   On this site visitors are recalling more than Helene the athlete, who ran both cross country and track for the high school, or Helene the well-rounded student, who became a People to People delegate in 2005 to the United Kingdom and Ireland.
   They’re sharing stories and recalling Helene the person, a spirited young woman with a glass-is-half full attitude, a natural born leader who could enemies into friends.
   Looking back on her life the Cody family remembers Helene as a bubbly little girl, who grew into this powerhouse of a person.
   ”She certainly had a way of taking more than her space up — it was her warmth and personality,” Ms. Cody said.
   Summing up their daughter in a few sentences was a difficult task for the Codys, as Helene was involved in so many groups and activities and had left her mark on so many people’s lives.
   The Codys said they will remember their daughter for her dedicated service to the church, her unfailing love for her family and friends, the endearment she had for big family gatherings in Connecticut, her passion for photography, her spirit for running and her heart for volunteerism.
   One comforting thought that is carrying him through the grief, Mr. Cody said, is knowing that Helene was able to fulfill a lifelong dream last summer, as the family took a vacation to the one place Helene always wanted to visit, Hawaii.
   ”I think she’s up there looking down,” Mr. Cody said, eyeing the heavens. “We had 16 wonderful years with her. It was a real blessing.”
   One of the ways the Codys are trying to keep Helene’s legacy alive is by continuing her work for the Gold Award Project in the Girl Scouts of America, an organization she had been a part of since kindergarten. The family said they hope to bring back the Cranbury Day 5K run, just as their daughter had intended, but rename the race in honor of Helene.
   A funeral service was held Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury with interment in Brainerd Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the Codys asked that memorial contributions be made payable to the First Presbyterian Church to help establish a Helene Marilyn Cody Foundation.
   ”With this foundation we’re going to keep her memory alive and help raise money for causes,” Mr. Cody said. “There’s so many people she’ll continue to touch.”
   Helene is survived by her parents, Linda and Win Cody; her sister, Jenna; her grandparents, Buck and Marilyn Cody; her grandfather, Frank Morris; and a large extended family.