LINCOLN, Nebraska (KLKN) – Three years after the death of a Lincoln teenager, her family and friends gathered with her organ recipients for a walk at Holmes Lake on Sunday.

On April 10, 2021, Kennedy Bowles was in a car accident southwest of Lincoln.

The 18-year-old high school graduate was seriously injured and doctors told her family that she would not survive.

But despite this tragedy, Kennedy managed to do something incredible.

She donated seven organs to five people and thus saved their lives.

SEE MORE: LIVING THROUGH LOSS: Lincoln teenager involved in weekend accident wants to donate organs

Her mother, Sundance Bowles, organized a walk for Kennedy at Holmes Lake on Sunday.

She invited Kennedy’s organ recipients.

“The only way I can cope with her death is to be close to those people,” Bowles said. “I don’t think I could go on without knowing that she is still alive because of those people.”

Kennedy’s pancreas and one of her kidneys went to Anitra Alcorta-Horn, who participated in the walk.

Doctors told her she would die in about three weeks when she got the call that she would receive a transplant.

Alcorta-Horn said it was amazing to see the impact Kennedy had on people, even beyond death.

“I have been given a second chance in life to spend time with my daughter and watch her grow up,” she said.

Kennedy’s brother Ethan said the walk was a good reminder of who his sister was and the legacy she left behind.

He is glad that other families can keep Kennedy’s memory alive.

The recipient of Kennedy’s heart was Jim Taylor.

He said he couldn’t describe what her selflessness meant to him.

His own heart failed so badly that he could barely walk a block without getting out of breath.

Now he is going a much further way to honor Kennedy and raise awareness of the importance of organ donation.

“She will forever be my hero,” Taylor said. “I’m really sorry her life was cut so short. She was only 18, she had a lot of life ahead of her and I’m sorry for that. But it’s phenomenal that she chose to do that. I know I thank her every day for that.”