• Nate Rhoades, 21, died after a car accident in California in January 2022 after he managed to get sober from an addiction
• His parents opened a nonprofit health and recovery center named in their son’s honor while Rhoade’s organ has helped up to 100 people — including Skylar Collins, who has become close 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 a crash 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 grew close to—as well as a nonprofit center that helps at-risk teenagers and young adults struggling with substance abuse and mental health challenges.

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

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

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

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

Allison, 65, says “something clicked” in that second and a peer coach helped Nate stay sober. He studied substance abuse 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 real passion was exercise, fitness and helping people,” said Larry, 80.

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

“At one point, one of us, we don’t remember who, but one of us said, ‘Oh my God, this is like Nate’s place in 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 health and recovery center in 2023. The center offers one-on-one coaching for peer recovery, group therapies and recreational activities such as boxing, guitar lessons and table tennis. Heidi says more than 250 people have benefited so far.

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

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

The couple say they wrote a letter to each of Nate’s donor recipients, saying they were “so happy” their son was able to help them. They got some answers. One from Skylar Collins, who got Nate’s heart and liver, really stood out to them.

“Oh my God,” Allison remembers the letter saying. “I was so glad to get your letter. You cannot believe what I have been through.” He then said he would love to meet them.

Collins, 31, tells PEOPLE he was born with it hypoplastic right heart syndromemeaning he was missing a right ventricle. When he got the transplant, he had about ten heart surgeries.

When Collins was told he needed a transplant in 2017, he shares he was a little skeptical. Finally, he realized that he needed to move forward because he wanted to “live, not die.”

“I had goals and achievements that I wanted (to) do,” he adds. “I wasn’t done down here.” The husband says it was a year-long process that sent him from hospital to hospital – briefly interrupted by the pandemic – before he received a “call” on January 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, over Zoom.

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

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

“I (really) wanted to meet the donor family, have some kind of relationship with them,” Collins says.

And while he realizes 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 has also found solace in carrying on Nate’s legacy.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we ended up this way,” he adds. “So while I still carry my own legacy and purpose, I think I also still carry his. I think I’ve been given the responsibility to carry out that mindset 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 SAMHSA’s Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.