DENTON, Texas — It’s not unusual to find a high school cross country team at a park early in the morning.
What is unusual is that this team isn’t here to run.
“We lost a light a year ago, almost to the minute, we lost a huge light in this world,” said Lisa Dorrell.
Lisa and her husband Gus say their son, Dylan, was a senior on the Denton Guyer cross country team.
A year ago, after practice at South Lakes Park, Dylan went in to the bathroom and never came out.
“He was laying down and unresponsive,” said cross country coach Jonathan Ponsonby.
Ponsonby tried to revive him, but Dylan was gone. He was just 17.
Doctors said Dylan died from an unknown heart issue. But a couple days after his death, his parents discovered something else about his heart they never expected.
“You love your kids so much you’ll do anything for them,” Gus said. “Little did we realize he was doing anything for anybody else.”
Two days after Dylan died, Lisa posted on Facebook that she was going to go run for Dylan, not expecting much of a response.
However, people from everywhere started reaching out, sharing stories of Dylan’s kindness.
“We had a kid come up to us and said, ‘Dylan would always sit with me when I was alone cause he saw I was alone,’” Gus said.
They’ve heard story after story just like that.
“That was Dylan,” Lisa said. “That wasn’t something we taught him. That wasn’t even something we knew was going on.”
It led them to start the Run for Dylan Foundation. They’re raising money to give out scholarships in Dylan’s honor and to place AED’s at every park in Denton.
To this day, people still share stories of Dylan’s good deeds.
His parents say he had always been so quiet, but clearly his goodness resonated throughout Denton.
Jaden Sale was Dylan’s best friend.
“He’s just shown me who I could be as a person,” Sale said. “There’s just a lot of things that I have, that I act like now, that I wouldn’t be and I wouldn’t have without Dylan.”
Everyone who loved Dylan got together last week on the anniversary of his death.
“He will forever be a part of this program, so I just want you guys to remember that,” said one member of the cross country team.
They walked a mile around the park and placed flowers outside the bathroom and although each step forward is as difficult as the last, Gus and Lisa are so grateful their son turned out to be such an inspiration.
“I don’t think we could love him anymore,” Lisa said, holding back tears.
“Yeah it’s tough,” Gus said. “Now we’re going to help make an impact on the world in his name and in his honor.”
It’s never easy letting go, but it’s a whole lot better knowing their son left so much love to hold on to.
To learn more about the Run for Dylan Foundation, visit their website.