Four Lives Transformed Thanks to the Healing Power of Tissue Donation to be Part of the 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade Float, "Lifting Each Other Up"
Four men and women whose lives were saved and healed through tissue donation thanks to the generosity of others will a part of the Donate Life Rose Parade® float on January 2, 2023 in Pasadena. In total, the float will feature 20 organ and tissue recipients as riders and walkers as well as honoring 39 deceased donors through beautiful floral portraits, or floragraphs, adorning the float.
The 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade float, Lifting Each Other Up, celebrates the power of organ, eye and tissue donation, with donors and recipients working together to support one another. Celebrating 20 years of participation in the Rose Parade and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses® televised special, the 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade float is the centerpiece of a national effort to reach viewers from around the nation and across the globe to share the important message that organ, eye and tissue donation saves and heals lives.
Thanks to tissue donors, millions of people are healed every year and thousands of lives are saved. Tissue from one single donor can touch the lives of more than 75 people. Some of the tissues that can be donated include lifesaving heart valves and skin grafts for burn survivors. Other tissues that are crucial to help heal and restore mobility include bone, ligament and nerve allografts, among others.
The 2023 Donate Life Float tissue recipients include the following float riders and walkers:
- Wendy Dougall. Wendy is a living example of the incredible advances in dental technology as she received a tissue transplant for her gums at age 65. On January 2, she will be walking next to the float alongside her husband Thomas who is a living kidney donor. Both Wendy and Thomas' participation in the 2023 Rose Parade are sponsored by Donate Life South Carolina.
- Mary Louis. an energetic teacher from Baytown Texas, Mary had triple-negative breast cancer, the most aggressive type of breast cancer, for which traditional treatments are not effective. After chemotherapy and a bilateral mastectomy, Mary had breast-reconstruction surgery using acellular dermal matrices, or donated skin grafts, for the procedure. This option improves the reconstruction outcome and her surgical results are excellent. A registered donor herself, Mary is sponsored by the American Association of Tissue Banks.
- Bri Majsiak. At 26, Bri underwent a prophylactic mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction. Nerves are cut when the breast tissue was removed. Thanks to a donor's selfless gift, Bri was able to have a breast-nerve repair procedure using donated nerve tissue. Her nerves regenerated without numbness, allowing her to move forward and heal. Bri is sponsored by Axogen.
- Hayden Schiller. Two weeks after his 2020 graduation from high school in Vancouver, WA, Hayden was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. After four months in the hospital, many very aggressive chemotherapy treatments and full-body radiation, he received a successful stem-cell transplant. His brother was his donor. Days later, Hayden developed a staph infection and all his major organs started to fail. Hayden slowly recovered, but two months later, Hayden was diagnosed with advanced osteonecrosis in both legs. He received two osteochondral allograft transplants in 2021 from two anonymous donors and he is now able to walk again. Hayen is sponsored by Community Tissue Services (CTS).
The 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade® float, Lifting Each Other Up, features a spectacular Asian street dragon which, in Asian cultures, symbolizes great power, good luck and strength. The colorful dragon winds through flowering trees, lanterns and fans, and is emblazoned with 39 memorial floragraphs, representing those who have given the gift of life. Riding on the float will be organ, eye and tissue recipients, whose lives have been saved and transformed thanks to those who said "YES" to organ, eye and tissue donation.
Thousands of individually dedicated roses will also be part of the 2023 Donate Life float. These roses will be placed in special pods along the float, sharing personal messages dedicated to those who have given the gift of life to others, as well as to organ recipients and transplant professionals.
The Donate Life Rose Parade float is produced by OneLegacy and is made possible thanks to dozens of sponsoring donation, transplant, healthcare, and family care organizations and individuals who help make donation and transplant possible across the country. As the world's most visible campaign, the Donate Life Rose Parade® float inspires viewers to save and heal more than one million people in need of organ, eye and tissue transplants each year. Register today to become an organ, eye or tissue donor by visiting www.DonateLife.net.
About Donate Life America
Donate Life America is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and state teams across the United States committed to increasing organ, eye and tissue donation. Donate Life America manages and promotes the national brand for donation, Donate Life, and assists Donate Life State Teams and national partners in facilitating high-performing donor registries; developing and executing effective multi-media donor education programs; and motivating the American public to register now as organ, eye and tissue donors.
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