WILDWOOD – Although it took a life-ending tragedy to get there, Wildwood local Tom Burke was given an “extra chance at life” by accepting a liver donation from a young man, Cody Souders, who died from a drug overdose at 18.
Burke worked for most of his life as a mechanical engineering technician at the now-defunct Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The shipyard was founded in 1776 at the birth of the nation and was a vital center for ship construction and repair during World War II. Burke worked with U.S. Navy ships. He helped upgrade their propulsion systems, generators, and engines.
“We worked a lot on the insulation on U.S. Navy destroyers,” he said.
The insulation work that he and his team performed on the USS Cole helped the ship survive attacks from two Al-Qaeda-affiliated suicide bombers.
Burke retired to Wildwood in 2011, but he has visited the Wildwoods since the 1980s.
His daughter, Sallyann Burke, moved to Wildwood when she was just 18 years old. When her husband died of an unexpected heart attack, Tom Burke and his wife moved there to “help her get back on her feet,” he said.
Burke found out about three cancerous tumors on his liver around the time of his retirement.
“They were able to shrink two of them,” but one was inoperable, he said.
His medical issues escalated until he was diagnosed with sepsis, a life-threatening condition that put him on life support until a viable liver donor was found.
Several donors fell through, and a partial transplant was insufficient due to the extensive damage to his liver.
Meanwhile, in Easton, Pennsylvania, Cody Souders began using opioids heavily after his regular weed dealer offered him a trial because he was “out of weed” that day.
Souders was a fisherman and, by all accounts, a “caring, loving kid – the kind of guy who would stop and talk to a homeless person and try to understand their story,” his mother, Amy Souders, said in an interview with the Herald.
Souders died before his 19th birthday. He never made it past the first year of college. But his death gave Burke new life. Souders’ liver was a perfect match for Burke, who was waiting desperately for a viable candidate. Gift Of Life Donor Program was the organ procurement organization that handled the donation of Cody’s organs and the transplant to Tom.
Amy Souders and Burke met at a “Donor Dash” event in Philadelphia and stayed in touch in the decade that followed. The “Donor Dash,” hosted every year in Philadelphia by the Gift of Life Donor Program, honors donors who have passed and helps connect the family of the deceased with those who the organs helped save.
“We donated everything we could of Cody’s,” his mother said. “It has helped me make sense of his death. He helped at least eight people with his major organs and 50 more with smaller parts of his body.”
Burke still lives in Wildwood. He works at the North Wildwood Public Works, cleaning up the beaches during the tourism season. He said he has found a robust network of friends here.
“It’s not every day you get a second chance at life,” he said.
Contact the author, Collin Hall, at chall@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 156.
