Revive Hope's focus is to revive hope by creating inspiration. This blog will have postings of inspiring stories about individuals directly affected by organ and tissue donation, provide information about organ and tissue donation, and inspire those who view the site to give hope through compassion!
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Four years ago I was given the honor of riding the Donate Life Float in the 2009 Rose Parade. That year, and every year since, I’ve been able to dedicate a rose on the float to Kari. Above is a picture of me placing my roses in 2009. This year, I have the privilege of dedicating two roses to two Iowa girls who loved one another – My donor, Kari, and her friend Alex.
In memory of Kari Westberg: Your beautiful lungs have given me 13 years of life. 13 years of AMAZING life. 30 people who you loved were with me this year – including your Mom & Lys. They, and I, will always love you. Love,Steve
In honor of Alex Redenius: I breathe with Kari’s beautiful lungs. You were her friend. Meeting you, I knew you were special. I never imagined how special you’d be. Thank you for my new kidney, Mabel. Love you for always, Steve
I have a lot more to say to either of them than would ever fit in a dedication limited to 200 characters (including spaces). I guess one way to limit my ability to go on-and-on is to limit my characters. But, please don’t mention that to Laura – she could find a way to enforce that limit regularly! (And, you may notice that both dedications are exactly 200 characters, including spaces.)
Now through December 23rd, you too can dedicate a rose for the low-low price of $30 – and your dedicated rose will be placed in the Donate Life Dedication Garden on the front of the Donate Life Float that will be in the Rose Parade on January 1st, 2013. You can dedicate roses to someone who has given, or received, or awaits the gift of life. A link that will guide you through the dedication process is here:
The ups and downs of life teach us many lessons, with those experienced through organ and tissue donation and transplantation being among the most profound. Donor families pass through grief on the way to peace and remembrance; living donors step forward to give love and life to others; and transplant recipients courageously move forward from harrowing illness to health and gratitude. Though our paths vary from the places we start, we are all connected on our Journeys of the Heart.
Inspired by the 2013 Rose Parade® theme "Oh, the Places You'll Go!™," the tenth Donate Life Rose Parade float entry will transport 32 riders representing deceased organ, eye and tissue donors, living donors, and transplant recipients through a magical, heart-filled world encompassing the highs and lows that life has to offer. A pathway of looping hearts is lined with 72 memorial floragraph portraits of deceased donors who are remembered every step of the way. The float's collection of joyful hearts representing the new life made possible by transplantation is grounded by a reverent dedication garden filled with roses bearing personal messages honoring those who make the gift of life possible. The journey peaks with overlapping red and purple hearts representing the love and courage that define humanity at its best.
In the pre-op waiting room, right before she was escorted to the OR waiting room, Alex told me that she named the gift she was giving me "Mabel".
A little over twelve years ago, a beautiful girl in Iowa named Kari told her family how strongly she felt about organ donation. Twice. I was in Chicago, my lungs were failing after a short lifetime living with cystic fibrosis... I was dying. In April, 2000, at the age of 17, Kari passed away. At the most devastating moment in their lives, Kari's family honored her desire to become an organ donor. I breathe with Kari's lungs. All of my life, I'd never imagined breathing could feel this good, this fulfilling- I think of Kari throughout the day, every day...
It was a few years after I received her beautiful lungs that we learned about Kari and her family... About a year later, we drove out to Algona, Iowa and we met them... We also met a few of Kari's friends. Over the next few years, Kari's Mom put me in contact with several of her friends... Over the past 7 or 8 years, more than a dozen of her friends have come out to climb with me - I've come to love them dearly...
One of Kari's friends I met early on was Alex... Actually, we met Alex and her brother when we were at a restaurant with Kari's family, when we met them... Alex was among the first groups of Kari's friends to come out to climb with me - and she's back every year...
A few years ago, I got an email from Alex... She explained that there was a young girl in Iowa who needed a kidney, and the girl's grandfather was being tested. Alex told me that if the grandfather was not eligible, she wanted to step up to the plate. And, if the grandfather worked out - she wanted to know how she might go about giving a kidney altruistically to someone who needed one... I told Alex that I was in awe of her, and what she wanted to do - and that she gave me hope, because I knew that, in a matter of years, it was inevitable that I would need a kidney... And knowing that there are people like her in the world helps me worry less... A few weeks later, I got an email from Alex about something-or-other, and it ended with a p.s. that she has a type A+ kidney with my name on it...
In August, 2011, my kidney function got to the point where I was officially listed for a kidney transplant. I felt very loved when a number of people stepped forward and told me they wanted to be tested... I emailed Alex and told her - and I told her about all my fears - for her, not me - whether this could impact her insurability, her future health, or if, God forbid, she could be injured... I got an email back from her telling me to "Stop being such a scairdy-cat" and give her the number to call to get this rolling...
About three months later, I was doing a presentation for Iowa Donor Network and Alex left me a voice message - I still have it on my phone... At the end of her message, she said, "SOOooo, I guess there must be something special about Algona, Iowa, and the girls who come from there...". Yes - I guess there is... Alex was letting me know that University of Chicago had called her and let her know she was a good match... She just wanted to let me know, "You have a kidney!"
Four days before our surgeries, Nesita Kwan from NBC/5-Chicago, interviewed Alex and me at home... They rolled tape for an awful long time and pulled a very nice 90-second spot that aired a few times on May 4th... I wish you could hear everything Alex talked about - about life with Kari, climbing with me, and why she wanted to give me a kidney... Here is the video that aired:
Kari wore #13 on her high school volleyball team - Alex wore #7... On May 8, 2012, #7 gave me one of her kidneys to keep me alive a good while longer... I'm pretty sure that, on that day, my lungs reached down and hugged my beautiful, new kidney...
Can you imagine what it feels like to have your life saved by an incredible, beautiful, thoughtful & compassionate girl - who allows you to breathe and live in a way you'd never imagined... Then, 12 years later, you find yourself in trouble again - and you have another incredible, beautiful, thoughtful & compassionate girl, who grew up with and loved Kari - reach out and save your life again?!?!
Alex gave me her kidney on a Tuesday afternoon... An amazing surgeon, Dr. Yolanda Becker, did the installation work... She had already had me opened up last Christmas during my last surgical stunt, and had a look around and knew what she had to work with!!! That Tuesday night I peed five liters...
I woke up the next morning and was still intubated, for precautionary purposes... Laura said I was rather anxious, trying to say something and no one understood - and finally, Laura said, "Alex is fine...", and I immediately calmed down... I then got a pen & paper and, in my propofol haze, wrote a note about how much I love Laura, Alex, Dr Becker & Dr Garrity and luckily then I ran out of paper... When they were about to extubate me - my lung transplant nurses, Penny & Pat, had stopped to visit, so they gloved up and helped... Right before they sent Laura out so they could pull the tube, she asked for another minute - to enjoy the silence - since there would no longer be any of that in a matter of seconds!!!
Alex's parents came out to be with Alex during her surgery and recovery... We'd met them in Algona last November... At least three families told us that when we meet her parents, we will understand how Alex became Alex. We completely agree with that statement! Alex recovered well - I have to believe she was in more pain than she lead me to believe - but I never saw anything but smiles, from her or her folks... Ironically - she had no appetite and was a little nauseous for 4-5-6 days after surgery, where I was looking for a grilled cheese sandwich practically as they were extubating me!!! Alex was released from the hospital 3 days after her surgery...
In two days, my kidney function was normal... It probably hadn't been there in 20 years - years of cystic fibrosis meds had already compromised them before I got my beautiful lungs... Four days after I was opened up on the table - I walked to our local restaurant, Hackney's, and had a ham & cheese sandwich! The next day, Laura and I went on two 2-mile walks!
I promise I will honor and care for Mabel with the same love I've taken care of her beautiful friend's lungs... Since the moment I knew her face, Kari's smile has been on my mind throughout the day, every day - now there will be another smile right next to Kari's - Alex... And the wonderful thing about this smile - is that, every now and then, I get to hug her... Kari gave me 12 more years with Laura, and all of the other people I love... She gave me more than I'd ever dreamed possible. I was a little worried that run might have been coming to an end - but Kari's friend, and my friend, Alex, has just given me who-knows-how-many more years to be with Laura, and to be with all of the people I love, and to leap tall buildings and whatever other kind of trouble I can drag others into with me... Can you imagine a gift like that?!?! Thank you, Alex - I'll love you always...
I'm hoping that I'll soon qualify for honorary Iowa citizenship - because it does seem that I'm slowly being rebuilt into a girl from Iowa.
p.s. It's almost midnight, but today is Alex & Mabel's birthday - Happy Birthday to Both of us...
On Sunday we climbed… I had a team that was over 150 strong, and I’m so proud of them… More than 25 of them, in the stairwells, are from Iowa, or at one time were from Iowa – they knew and loved Kari… And they had friends at the top waiting for them too…
My team wore purple & gold. I wore the shirt that Kari’s volleyball teammates wore – the shirt that Kari’s mom sent me… My docs made me step it down a notch and climb slowly because of the 10” gash in my belly from my Christmas adventure eight weeks earlier. Do you have any idea what it feels like to step out of the stairwells after climbing 94 floors to a whole mess of cheering people and a sea of purple?!?!
This year, Kari’s family was here – her sister and cousin were in the stairwells with me… Her mom and Godmother were at the top, waiting for us… More than anything, I wish I could give Kari back to them – but I cannot… I think about her throughout the day, every day – but that doesn’t hold a candle to them thinking about her. One thing I can do, is to keep her alive in the hearts and minds of the people who loved her, and even some people who never knew her – and her mom and sister saw dozens of people come out to honor her with me, and keep Kari’s spirit, her smile and her memory alive.
Here is a little news clip from WCIU TV… WCIU reporter Aly Bockler and some of her coworkers joined my team, and here is a nice little story she published the morning after the climb:
We were climbing to honor another beautiful, young girl too – Chloe Coleman… Chloe’s heart beats in my friend Melissa’s chest. Laura and I got an email from another friend and neighbor, MJ – she was supposed to climb with me, but gave up her spot to a friend and volunteered for my team instead… In her email, she told me a little story worth sharing:
Yesterday was an amazing experience for me. Simply amazing. Picture this. I see these people standing around with Kari’s Klimbers shirts on and have no idea who they are. Didn’t recognize them from the previous years. I had totally forgotten about Steve telling me about the heart transplant recipient being with her donor’s family again, and her donor’s mom climbing with her for the first time this weekend.
Well, here comes this beautiful, energetic, effervescent young gal emerging from the crowd with an unbelievable glow on her face and a shine in her eyes. She was radiant. She had a stethoscope around her neck, so I assumed she was a healthcare professional who was greeting her supporters. Someone that you had probably met in your journey through the healthcare system. After she hugged these three people, she took the stethoscope and put it in the ears of this one woman and held the other end to her heart. OMG, OMG, OMG. I realized what I was witnessing. This was the gal who had the heart transplant with the mother, father and aunt of the donor, who were listening to their loved one’s heart in this gal’s body.
I have to tell you that it completely blew me away. Completely. The joy in the eyes of the Mom was something I’ve never seen before. I thought of my own Mother and how she would have felt if she had had the opportunity to hear my brother’s heart beat again after he passed.
Thank you so very much for affording me this opportunity to witness this experience. Truly amazing. I immediately texted my nieces and one nephew who all know you two. They were blown away as well. I told my sister-in-law, Peggy, (the mother of the triplets who was with me through my surgery) that seeing this event between these people affected me as much, if not more, than the birth of her kids. I will never forget it.
Later, I got an email from Kari’s beautiful friend, who is now my beautiful friend, Katie… It was from one of Katie’s friends to whom she had forwarded my fundraising letter. The response instructed Katie to tell me that my email and my website had pushed her and her husband to go online and register as organ donors… Seeing what Kari did for me helped two people register as organ donors...
This is my tenth climb... When I come out of the stairwells at the top, and I do believe I will come out, I'll have climbed 16,320 steps for the Respiratory Health Association at this awesome event!!!
The year started out rather crazily... On Christmas Eve I was in emergency surgery after a renegade gall stone the size of an angry, small dog (or mothball) tore through my gut... An incredible surgeon, who is scheduled to do my kidney transplant, removed my gall bladder, my appendix, 6" of my colon, put it back together, hosed me out and sent me on my way with an awesome 10" scar up the middle of my belly! A few weeks ago, she gave me permission to climb, sloooowly, and I promised I'd stop if my body says stop... And I will.
I've got 150 crazy people on my team, climbing with me... Among them, there are around 25 people who were classmates, teammates, grew up with, taught, coached, or knew and loved Kari... Kari's sister & cousin are climbing with me... Kari's mom & aunt will be here, cheering us on... #15, #12, #9, #8, #7, #4 and #2 will be in the stairwells with me... Kari was a star middle-hitter on her Algona High School volleyball team -- she wore #13... Her teammates will be in the stairwells with me, and some of them are bringing their moms!! One of her coaches, and one of her teachers will be with us too... They're all coming out from Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois to help me honor their friend and my hero... Can you imagine what I feel like when I'm surrounded by people who grew up with, and knew and loved Kari?!?! It's pretty amazing... They're beautiful people -- and they give me a glimpse of who Kari would have become...
I do this to tell people about Kari, and about her goodness, and about the goodness of organ donation -- and we also do this for the Respiratory Health Association... They fund research in lung disease, they help people stop smoking -- their work helps everyone breathe cleaner air... They help people with lung disease breathe easier... I know what it's like to breathe with diseased lungs, and now I know what it's like to breathe with the most beautiful lungs in the world... One of their mottos has been, "if you can't breathe, nothing else matters..." I've lived through that motto -- and the RHAMC and all of these people who climb with me help other people breathe. We have a very special mission...
I know that these are not the best of financial times for many of us... If you have a couple of bucks burning a hole in your pocket, I or anyone else on my team would love a pledge... But more than anything, I'd love it if you would check out my little website and read about the beautiful girl, and all of the people surrounding her, and me, who have allowed me to leap tall buildings...
To find someone on my full Kari's Klimbers team, click here...
These climbs have meant so much to me... Being surrounded by people who know and loved Kari, and by people who know and love me, is something that defies description... And the support we've received from people like you has allowed me to tell so many people about Kari... In the past 10 years, we've raised a quarter million dollars -- because of people like you... Thank you... I get to do a fair amount of public speaking, and often enough, when I walk into a room, more than one person pulls me aside and says, "You're the one who climbs a hundred stories with your new lungs, and with your donors' friends!!!" And often enough, they already know Kari's smile... I am that guy, and I'm proud of that -- and more than anything, I want them to know her smile. I will have had her beautiful lungs for 12 years in April -- and what she has allowed me to do is more than I'd ever dreamed possible...
And finally, and very important to me -- please consider organ & tissue donation, register to be a donor on your state's registry, and tell your family how you feel. I know a beautiful girl from Iowa who knew how she felt and she told her family -- I think about her every single day.
I have not seen it yet – I’m hoping to find a video link to the program somewhere… I live in Chicago, but my beautiful lungs were a gift of life from Iowa, from a beautiful Iowa-girl who is on my mind always. Watch it if you get a chance…
Did you watch the Bears/Packers game on Monday night this week?!?! I watched… I didn’t pay much attention. Anyone who knows us knows that Laura wears the sports pants in the family. However, at half-time they showed a beautiful, little story about a girl named Anna Schmidt. You really need to watch it:
This video is so much fun to watch – I’ll have to admit that when I saw it on Monday night, I was mesmerized… And in tears… The expressions and the emotions, and the surprise and joy on Anna’s face throughout this video defy description – you need to experience her experiencing this…
I am a Bears fan. And though Green Bay has always been one of our biggest rivals – right now, I’m a Packer fan too… The gift they gave Anna will be with her forever.
There is also a family out there somewhere who lost someone – and the heart of their loved one beats in Anna’s chest.
I cannot imagine watching someone as precious as Anna suffering with a failing heart. Nor can I imagine the strength that other family gathered after losing their loved one – likely a child – to anonymously help Anna's family when they made the decision to give Anna the gift she needed…
About one third into the video, the narrator tells us about Anna’s transplant surgery and recovery – and the interviewer asks Anna, “What was it like to start feeling better?”
Anna answered in a way that a fair number of us understand… Anna said, “It’s the most amazing feeling… In the world.”
I got this iPhone picture from Annie the other day – a picture of her placing dedicated roses in the Family Circle Garden…
Annie’s rose reads:
In memory of Jay Gulotta. In memory of Jay Gulotta who gave life to others! We love you Anne, Elizabeth, and JR
My rose reads:
In memory of Kari Westberg. Kari, it’s been almost 10 years. You've given me so much more than breath and life; you've given me your friends. They share as if they were with you yesterday; they'll never forget you. Love, Steve
Melissa’s rose reads (she’ll post more about her rose for Chloe later…):
In memory of Chloe. who saved me when no one else could. You were our miracle on that beautiful day in June.
Tomorrow morning, somewhere between 4 and 5am in California, Annie and 23 others, along with a handful of support folks will be gathering in the hotel lobby and getting on a bus… They’ll probably descend on Von’s – a grocery store on the way to the parade line-up… They’ll tool around Von’s tossing whatever they want for a quick breakfast into a few carts – several of them will line up at the Starbuck’s counter, baffling the poor customers who came in at 5am expecting no wait... It will be the most fun they've ever had in a grocery store. Then they’ll load back into the bus and eat whatever they bought on the way to the parade grounds… The Donate Life Float is early in the parade this year – the 10th entry – the 4th float, so they won’t have to wait too long! They told me that turning the corner onto Colorado Boulevard, and seeing the walls of people on both sides, is something you just need to experience – it’s amazing… They were right. Around a million people gather along the parade route – they start plotting out their spots at around Noon, the day before, and they party all night… Before turning that corner, I had been calling out and engaging people on the pre-parade route – then we hit the corner and I saw all of those people. A few of my fellow riders looked over and questioned why I had suddenly gotten quiet. For the briefest of moments – I was speechless.
Annie is riding the float this year to honor her husband Jay, and the gifts they gave… She’s also riding the float as thanks for all she does in telling others about organ donation. Her loss is immeasurable – but what she has done, and what she will continue to do to help people like me get the gifts we need to live is also immeasurable.
Finally – I want to post something that made me smile, that I completely stole from another float rider, Glenn Matsuki, who keeps an amazing blog titled Donate Life Organ & Tissue Donation … It’s about Nicholas Green, another of the seventy-six floragraph honorees – but it’s also about one of the people instrumental in making this happen every year – Bryan Stewart… Bryan’s energy and passion for what he does for this cause is beyond amazing. I can’t even imagine the lives he’s touched over the years… Here is Glenn’s December 28 posting, taken from the Contra Costs Times, titled “Sacrifice on Display”:
Bryan Stewart has dedicated his professional career to promoting organ donation. (Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer)
SOURCE: Contra Costa Times
Reg Green's son Nicholas was killed 15 years ago, but his legacy has lived on in seven strangers who were saved by transplants from his organs.
And now that legacy will be highlighted for millions to see on New Year's Day when Nicholas Green's portrait will be featured along with dozens of other donors on a Rose Parade float dedicated to organ donation.
In the form of a 30-foot tall phoenix - the mythical bird symbolizing rebirth - the float will be decorated with red roses, orange and yellow chrysanthemums and violet orchids.
The real highlight will be tucked in the phoenix's tail feathers - portraits of 76 organ donors, made of crushed corn, onion seed, cinnamon and flax.
The portraits have all been prepared by relatives of the deceased donors, like Reg Green.
"Overwhelmingly there is a feeling of gladness that all these millions of people will be introduced to your loved one," Green said.
"It's been a long time since he was killed and the fact that he is still remembered is very gratifying."
Nicholas was killed at age 7 by highway robbers while vacationing with his family in Italy in 1994. His parents donated his heart, liver, two kidneys, corneas and pancreas cells to help save the lives of seven Italians.
Reg Green, who has since become a worldwide spokesman for organ donation and started a La Cañada-based foundation for the cause, said the act of preparing the portraits was therapeutic for himself and his family.
"We were all together working on this project to try and bring his image to life ... we were discussing what color exactly his eyes were, and his hair ... there was great intimacy," Green said.
"It was even a bit of a wrench to have to come home and leave the photograph."
The float is sponsored by OneLegacy, Southern California's regional organ donation processing company.
Over the past eight years, ideas for the organization's floats have stemmed from the simple, like the first year's bridge design, to bolder metaphorical statements, like a design that had colorful flowers growing out of a fallen tree to symbolize new life after death.
This year's phoenix design will be the largest and most extravagant yet.
Helping to spearhead the float-building effort is Bryan Stewart of Northridge, the nonprofit's vice president of communications.
"Every year I put a lot of heart into all of this, and in many ways it's my Christmas gift to myself," Stewart said.
Stewart's dedication had him working on a few last-minute projects on Christmas Eve morning, but for him, telling the world about the act of giving gives him the real gift.
Stewart had little experience with organ donation when he was hired in 2001, but the job quickly became almost like a calling.
Within months he helped launch California's "Donate Life" organization, which does statewide advocacy for organ donations and manages the state's massive donor registry with more than 6 million registrants. He also became board president of the nationwide "Donate Life" organization.
But one of the highest-profile jobs that Stewart has taken in the past seven years is helping to design and build the "Donate Life" Rose Parade float.
Every year more than 60 million people in 200 countries around the world sit in front of their television sets on New Year's Day to watch brilliantly decorated floats make their rounds in the annual Rose Parade.
"Every day I wake up excited ... this doesn't feel like a job," Stewart said.
"I get to share with people a beautiful message about bringing life to a situation that seems to be all about death. I am inspired every day by amazing people and amazing families."
New Year’s 2000, I really wasn’t sure if I was going to see another one – I had been waiting for almost 2 ½ years for lungs, and I wasn’t sure how much more I had in me… Tomorrow will be 2010 – for me, because of a beautiful girl from Iowa, and because of her family. She is in my heart and on my mind always. Thank you for 2010, Kari…
Four people and their families are celebrating this holiday season… Whether those four people are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice or some other observance – I do not know… But I do know that they’re able to do so because of a beautiful, 16-year-old girl from Iowa named Erika.
With Scott’s help – I’ve been yipping about Annie and the Chana family and their upcoming Rose Parade adventure – and now I’d like to tell you about a donor from Iowa being honored with a floragraph.
Erika Desiree Schwager lit up the room with her bright brown eyes, her endless energy and her contagious laugh. She was a competition squad cheerleader who loved to dance and express herself through a variety of different music. She loved to perform in plays in auditoriums full of onlookers or before a group of peers. She was also a beautiful artist. Erika used her creative hands to captivate the minds of art enthusiasts with canvas, paper, and clothing. Her artistic tendencies were even evident in the way in which she applied cosmetics, recalled her mother, Bette.
On November 20, 2006, the car 16-year-old Erika was in collided with a fire truck. Despite tremendous efforts by firemen, emergency medical technicians, nurses and doctors, she died six days later. Her death gave four others a second chance at life through organ donation, and helped numerous others through tissue donation.
Erika decided that she would donate her organs after she passed her driving test. “I remember vividly her exact first words when she walked confidently into the house after getting her driver’s license, ‘Look mom! I’m going to be an organ donor!’ After her accident, her father and I facilitated her wish. She was able to donate both of her kidneys, liver, pancreas, bone, tissue, and skin and heart valves,” said Bette.
In a note to us, Bette proudly explained:
On January 1st, 2010, Erika will be honored and remembered in the 121st Rose Parade in Pasadena California. A picture of Erika’s face will be transformed into a floragraph; a portrait created with floral material and displayed on the Donate Life Rose Parade Float. (Above: Bette holding Erika's floragraph.) The Donate Life 2010 Float entry will feature 76 floragraphs of organ and tissue donors from across the country. The Donate Life Float themed “New Life Rises”, is represented by the mythical phoenix, a symbol of life emerging from the ashes of death.
Prior to the parade, I will have the opportunity to decorate this inspirational float. My family will attend the Donate Life Gala Dinner, and sit in the grandstand seating to watch the Rose Bowl Parade.
Since Erika’s death three years ago, Erika’s parents have been going out and talking to young people about the importance of putting “yes” on their driver’s license for organ donation – and for all they do, Iowa Donor Network nominated Erika to be one of the people featured in a floragraph on the Donate Life Float in the Rose Parade on January 1, 2010… Here is a little YouTube tribute to Erika and her life that shows her fun and infectious smile:
Erika’s Mom explained how Erika made the decision to become an organ donor – but that’s not magical – that doesn’t just happen – and it doesn’t happen by accident… Like Erika did, the beautiful 17-year-old Iowa girl who saved my life, Kari, told her family how she felt about organ donation – and the way Erika and Kari felt about organ donation didn’t just magically appear in their precious minds – it certainly had a lot to do with their mothers and fathers and the way they were raised, and perhaps, the influence of the friends who surrounded them…
Erika’s parents, and her two brothers, will be in Pasadena on New Year’s Day to see their beautiful daughter's and sister’s floragraph passing by on the Donate Life Float. I can tell you, personally, that it’s an incredible and emotional experience to be there, surrounded by so many donor family members, recipients and transplant professionals – to see someone honored that you care about so deeply…
I can also tell you, personally, that the parade is nothing compared to the emotion of celebrating the holidays with your family – being alive, and hugging and laughing and singing with them – when in the not-too-distant past, you didn’t know whether you were going to survive to the next holiday; and knowing that there is a person, and a family out there somewhere, who are directly responsible for you being alive, and hugging and laughing and singing.
Four people and their families are celebrating this holiday season – because of Erika, and because of her family… This holiday season, if you happen to watch the Rose Parade and see the Donate Life Float with Erika’s floragraph passing by, take that opportunity, like Erika did, to discuss with your family how you feel about organ donation…
I’m picking this up from Scott over at I am. Are you? Yesterday he posted about a commercial for Donate Life Illinois featuring Chicago Bear’s cornerback, Charles Tillman. His precious little Bear cub – his daughter Tiana – at three months was diagnosed with cardiomyopaty in May of 2008. In August, 2008, she received a new heart…
Charles has since become a vocal advocate for organ donation… Here is the commercial they produced:
This year, I had the most amazing New Year’s that I’ve had in my life. I got to ride the Donate Life Float in the Rose Parade carrying Kari’s picture. On New Year's Day, 2010, Anne Gulotta will have that experience carrying Jay’s picture. I’m sure that, over the next few months I’ll be posting about her upcoming journey – and I’ll be posting about her ride.
One of the more meaningful parts of the Donate Life Float, for me, was the Family Circle Garden. It was started by a beautiful lady named Laurie Wolowic, who lost her brother and he became an organ donor. I love this picture of her, in the middle, waving, as her garden went by… She continues to be the force behind this beautiful remembrance. At the end of December, last year, Laura and I were able to place a handful of roses dedicated to people very special to us. Here is a little video about the roses I placed last year:
This year, Annie will be placing my roses – and certainly roses for many other friends along with the rose she places for Jay.
Each rose is placed in a vial that carries a unique, personal message of love, hope and remembrance. You too can place a rose to honor a donor, donor family, recipients or others touched by organ donation.
For individuals, there are five packages ranging from as little as $25. All packages include a rose with the name of your loved one or honoree and an optional dedication of up to 200 characters. (Yes, I had a lot of trouble with that limitation!) The rose will be placed on the float in the Family Circle Garden. Your rose – dedicated to someone you love – will be on a float seen by a million people in Pasadena, and tens of millions on TV on New Year’s Day… Ain’t that a cool thought?
Subsequent packages are priced between $50 and $250 and include a variety of things such as certificates, replicas of your dedication on the rose vial placed in the Family Circle Garden, pin sets and parade souvenir programs.
You can learn about the Family Circle Garden here…
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