Create an inline link to a definition-list item in Markdown

Question

I would like to be able to generate hyperlinks in text and code to the definition list at the end of the document.

This syntax does NOT work:

Definition list (at end of document)

[1]: Donation Date
: The date on which the organ was recovered from the donor.

~~~
TRANSPLANT.SURGERY_DATE
when TRANSPLANT.TYPE_ID = DONOR [1]
~~~

Link in text

[Donation Date][1] should be after the start of this year.

Link in code block

`[Donation Date][1] >= 01/01/2016`

The Markdown is rendered as [1]: Donation Date and [Donation Date][1] respectively.

Is it possible to create a link to a definition list?

Using Sublime Text 3 and Markdown Preview package to build the HTML.