BYRON, N.Y. — The pages of a photo album are moments of a life well-lived. For the Kota family, they hold a missing piece.

“These are all the important times in Matthew's life,” said Nancy Kota, Matthew Kota's mom.

“He was just such a wonderful, sweet, caring, giving child,” said Jason Kota, Matthew’s dad.

A little before his 17th birthday, Matthew and his dad went skeet shooting. He was missing a lot of targets.

“It's like, 'Matthew, when that comes out the side there, you got to be ready.' He's like, 'I don't see it,'” recalled Jason.

Matthew was diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation. It was a vein 2 and a half inches big in his brain that was pressing on his optic nerve.

“He was essentially a ticking time bomb. If he would have had any head trauma at all, and he played hockey, he skied, ran cross country," said Jason.

"[The doctor said] if that would have burst, then that's it,” added Nancy.

Decisions were made. That August, his parents took him to a specialist for a craniotomy, a surgical procedure that involves removing a section of the skull to access the brain.

“When he got out of the surgery, they said everything went great," said Nancy. "Over the course of the next five days, things didn't go as planned.”

On September 1, 2008, Matthew passed away.

“It was sudden," said Nancy.

"Just driving home from the airport trying to figure out how we're going to tell our kids that you...Yeah, so there was no light at the end of the tunnel for a long time,” Jason added.

In time, the light found a way.

On what would have been Matthew’s 18^th birthday, the Kota family held a blood drive in his memory.

“That was actually...that was the first time we ever donated blood," said Jason.

For 16 years, they’ve kept the tradition going.

“We just had our 16th annual blood drive, and we are just shy of 1,000 units of blood,” said Nancy.

Matthew himself once volunteered to help with blood drives and was a donor.

“He was excited to donate blood, and talked about getting his 10 gallon donor pen,” she said.

So knowing that in the 16 years without him, they’ve kept that giving spirit going, helping or saving 3,000 lives, it’s big.

“I think Matthew would be super excited," said Nancy. "I also think Matthew was very humble, and he may not have wanted all the attention, right?”

Like Matthew, this family is humble.

“The credit goes to everybody who comes out to donate blood, and we just organize it,” said Nancy.

But they’ll continue to do just that, for years to come.

“It doesn't necessarily make his birthday any easier, but it gives us something to look forward to,” she added.

On top of the annual blood drive, the Kotas have also started a scholarship at Matthew’s school. There’s an extra scholarship from the American Red Cross if their drive gets a certain amount of donors.