Cody was born on July 1, 1993.  He had a head full of almost black hair.  It is hard to believe how blonde it got when was a child.  As he grew into a teen it started to change to a dark blonde.
     Cody loved life.  He was so excited for the coming summer.  He just got his driving permit on April 1st and on April 21st he had gotten his braces off.  Cody had his summer full of wrestling and youth group camps.  He was to attend a wrestling camp at Olivet College and CMU.  Cody was also going to a camp at Lakewood.  There was a camp at his high school, but he was also chosen to attend the DYLC, the Diocesan Youth Leadership Camp. We talked to his wrestling coach and he agreed Cody should attend the DYLC.  To get into the DYLC camp, Cody had to apply and tell why he thought that he deserved to go.  There are only 100 teens a year that get the honor of attendence.  The board seen just how special Cody was, and picked him to go.  Another youth group camp that he was set to attend was Stubenville.  Cody had attended that camp for the first time last summer and loved it.
      Cody was just finishing up his freshman year at Lansing Eastern High School and was excited to move on.  He had already signed up for a few honors classes for his sophomore year.  He was a wrestler and received his varsity letter his first year wrestling.  This is also the place where he heard of the “game” that ended his short life, The Choking Game.  A couple of weeks before Cody decided to try the game; he talked to his dad about what he heard at school.  After they talked Cody kind of shrugged it off.  Little did we know that if a teen is talking about this game, that it is usually a sign that they are thinking of trying it.
     On May 11th, 2008 everything changed.  Cody stayed home alone while we went to the store to get some medications.  We were gone about forty minutes.  He was in his room when we left and when we got back his light was still on so we thought that he was playing his PSP or listening to his iPod.  It was about thirty minutes later and he still had not come down.  So I, his mother, went to tell him to take out his contacts because I thought he had fallen asleep.  That was when I found him at the top of the stairs by the railing with a belt around his neck… We got him lose and his dad started CPR on him while I called 911.  I went and took over so that his dad could take his little sister to the neighbors where she would be safe.  Since then, our whole world has crashed down around us.                             Next Page >