All Thomas Coady wanted was a motorcycle.
When he first asked his mother, Maria Coady, and his stepfather, Thomas Bedard, about a year ago, they immediately said no.
“No mother wants her kid to ride a motorcycle,” she said.
Thomas’ biological father had just passed away. He was 21, had his own money and insisted, so Maria caved.
She bought everything she could to keep him safe: a jacket with spine protectors, motorcycle boots and the best helmet she could find — the one Thomas was wearing the night he collided with Tolar Powell’s pick-up truck at the intersection of Northwest 34th Avenue and Northwest Eighth Avenue while 22-year-old Halie Guelfi rode on the back.
Despite both Thomas’ and Halie’s protection, the two UF students died from the injuries they sustained from Friday’s crash.
“I loved that child more than anything,” Maria said of her son. “He was the light of my life. He was the pulse that ran through my veins. There was just so much life in him.”
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Growing up, Maria said Thomas was shy and selfless. She said he never asked for much.
“He was a little socially awkward, but wonderfully bright,” the UF education associate professor said.
He liked Rubik’s Cubes and video games, and Maria said he started reading when he was 3 years old.
His younger sister, Rachel, is 19. She goes to Santa Fe College and said Thomas was her best friend.
He loved biology. His childhood room at his parent’s house is filled with books on global health. There’s a molecular structure hanging from his ceiling and mathematical equations written on pieces of paper.
When the 22-year-old wasn’t working toward his degree in biology, Maria said he loved to travel. His family lived in Southern France for a year, and last summer, after Thomas’ dad died, he traveled to his father’s family farm in Ireland to bury his ashes.
He planned to graduate from UF — his dream school — in the Spring. Though Maria encouraged Thomas to tour other college campuses, his heart was set here.
“He was where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to do and surrounded by people who loved him,” she said.
Maria reflected on one time, not too long ago, when she and Bedard were at the beach with Thomas. Her son was worried about the growing global Ebola epidemic and kept saying, “I gotta go. I gotta help someone.”
Thomas worked in blueberry fields, Maria said, and was an advocate for migrant workers. After graduation, he considered joining the Peace Corps.
“He wasn’t in the medical field for the money,” Maria said. “He was in it because he knew he could make a difference and really help people.”
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Before heading out on his bike, Thomas and Halie played chess. Maria said Halie beat him, according to friends, and the two were probably on their way to grab a bite to eat around 7 p.m. when they entered the intersection.
About four hours later, there was a knock on Maria’s door. It was a police officer. Thomas was in an accident, the officer said as he clutched a picture of her son’s driver’s license.
Maria and Bedard ran back inside, changed their clothes and headed to UF Health Shands Hospital, where doctors, neurosurgeons, nurses and social workers surrounded them with bad news.
Thomas slipped into cardiac arrest when he got to the trauma center. And when he was in the operating room, it happened again. Once he was stabilized, doctors gave him a CAT scan, but his brain was dead. There was no brain activity.
Maria signed a do not resuscitate form around midnight. She said there was no question.
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A few weeks ago, Thomas surprised Maria with tickets to the UF versus University of Kentucky home football game. Maria met some of his friends, and together they tailgated. The two ate turkey legs and pizza. It was cold out, and Maria bought him a new Gators sweatshirt.
She wore it for days after he died.
“The best thing I’ve ever done in my life was have Thomas,” she said. “Our heartstrings were connected. He was my love.”
Four days before the accident, Thomas went to Maria’s house to celebrate her birthday.
Before he left, she gave him a big hug, a big kiss and told him, “I miss you already.”
Then he drove away on his bike.
Thomas was a careful driver, she said, and that night was the last time she saw him alive.
Struggling to fight through her tears, she said, “I don’t know how I’m going to wake up every day for the rest of my life and not have him here.”
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When Maria said goodbye to her only son, Thomas was covered in bruises and tubes. The life support machines were off.
When she touched him, she said his skin was already growing cold. So she laid on top of him, wrapped her arms around him one last time and kissed him all over as his heartbeat slowed to a stop. With a pair of scissors, she then cut off a piece of his hair.
“I will love you forever,” she said.
There will be a viewing from 3 to 5 p.m. followed by a service at 5 for Thomas at the Greenhouse Church, 2925 NW 39th Ave., Thursday. UF is also hosting a ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday at the President’s Home.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 12/10/2014]
Thomas Coady poses with his mother, Maria Coady, a UF professor on special assignment for international education, in this undated photo.
