By Beau Bowman
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In 2012, a group of University of Iowa students knocked on the door of Iowa City residents Brian and Pamela Codd, asking if they could make a donation to the Dance Marathon team. The two instantly supported the group by writing it a check for $50.

Three weeks later, the Codds’ son Dashiell was diagnosed with a rare liver cancer called hepatoblastoma. 

Originally, doctors thought Dashiell had just a cold that was turning into pneumonia. It turned out to be much worse than that. 

His original diagnosis was incorrectly called hepatoblastoma because the biopsy did not analyze the whole tumor. It was changed to transitional liver cell tumor after metastasis and subsequent review of past tumors revealed this pathology.

After four months of treatment, Dashiell had surgery to have the tumor removed. The surgery was successful.

While still in the hospital, the doctors discovered that Dashiell’s Alpha-fetoprotein was significantly higher than it should be, which led to tumor activity in the liver. This would mean that Dashiell would be put on a waiting list for a liver transplant.

Three weeks after he was put on the list, the Codds received a call saying there was an available liver for Dashiell; the transplant was done as soon as possible and was successful.

Dashiell came home two months later and recovered well.

“When he came home, he was doing summersaults in the living room,” Dashiell’s mother, Pamela Codd, said.

At his first post-op checkup, the doctor found nodules in Dashiell’s lungs that needed to be removed. So he had surgery to remove them.

He went back again for a checkup and the nodules had grown back, leading to another surgery for the boy — for a third and final time.

Dashiell passed away in June 2013.

One month prior to his death, Brian and Pamela Codd made arrangements to have Dashiell’s tumors removed and flash-frozen when he passed away. The couple then decided to donate the tumors to scientific research.

Mary Schlapkohl, a nurse on Dashiell’s medical team, said she helped the family understand the treatments he went through.

“I was there when he was first diagnosed,” she said. “I helped educate the family on the treatments he was receiving and what to look for at home. I was there from the beginning until the very end.”

Dashiell has been honored by Dance Marathon since 2013 and has his own team present at each Big Event.

“When Dashiell passed, Dance Marathon couldn’t have been more supportive,” she said. “They used their money to buy a heart-shaped urn for Dashiell’s remains as well as a necklace with his thumbprint on it.”

Dance Marathon members still keep in contact with Dashiell’s family today.

Current UI student Jacob Thiel said he was on Dashiell’s team for Dance Marathon’s Big Event.

“My freshman year, I was on his team,” he said. “I was so inspired by his story that after our first family meet-up, I went up and spoke to his mother, Pam. Dashiell passed away that summer, but I’m still close with his family, especially his brothers, Orson and Sumner.”