2005 Donate Life Rose Parade® Float

Donate Life Returns to Rose Parade® With 23 Extraordinary Riders Heralding Life-Saving Organ, Tissue Donation

Los Angeles, CA
September 7, 2004

Twenty-three people from across the U.S. will proudly ride proudly down Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day to demonstrate how many families benefit from the gift of organ and tissue donation. A nationwide partnership of organizations united to inspire all people to “Donate Life” through organ and tissue donation today announced the featured riders. These individuals represent living donors, donor family members and transplant recipients, whose presence on the float underscores its theme, Many Families, One Gift.

“Our float promises to bring a distinct dimension to the Tournament of Roses Parade theme, Celebrate Family,” said Bryan Stewart, chairman of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float organizing committee and director of communications for OneLegacy, the transplant donor network serving 18 million people in Southern California. “Organ and tissue donation saves lives and strengthens families. Donor families honor their loved ones’ legacies of caring and generosity, while transplant recipients and their families regain health and hope. All families can celebrate life by choosing to be organ and tissue donors.”

Float riders include the family of Nicholas Green, the young boy whose murder in Italy 10 years ago this month and subsequent donation of multiple organs spurred a global surge in donation called “The Nicholas Effect.” Reg, Maggie and Eleanor Green are joined by 10 pairs of float riders who illustrate how families are strengthened through the power of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. The riders, ranging in age from 13 to 75, hail from communities throughout the nation, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Oklahoma.

Kacey Ruegsegger and her sister, Britney Ruegsegger, will travel from Littleton, Colo. to celebrate the gift of bone tissue that enabled Kacey to keep and use her arm and hand following shotgun blasts in the library at Columbine High School. Kacey, who is completing her nursing degree, acknowledged that “my experience with Columbine really did help me want to become a nurse. While I was in the hospital fighting horrible injuries, I had such wonderful nurses that made such a difference in my recovery and taking care of my family as well. I want to make that kind of difference in other people's lives.”

From the East Coast come sisters Deborah Quick and Mary Palmer of Staten Island, N.Y. and Somerset N.J., who donated the organs and tissues of both a brother and sister. In Darien Center, N.Y., husband and wife Ellie and Dan Tomczak have experienced both sides of donation: Ellie survived due to a kidney transplant, and out of gratitude Dan later donated his kidney anonymously. The recipient turned out to be Michael Stern of Deerfield Beach, Fla., who met Dan a year ago, talks with him regularly, and feels deeply that “Dan is inside me.”

More than 86,000 Americans currently await organ transplants, while every year hundreds of thousands of people need donated tissue to prevent or cure blindness, heal burns or save limbs. In 2004, America celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first successful organ transplant—a miracle of modern medicine that for two generations has paved the way for hundreds of thousands of individuals and their families to enjoy longer, fuller lives together.

According to David Fleming, executive director of the Coalition on Donation, “the Rose Parade offers a unique setting to inspire more than 40 million viewers to make the commitment to donate life, discuss organ and tissue donation with their families, and sign up to be donors in states with donor registries.”

Fifteen of the riders are transplant recipients and seven are donors or donor family members. In addition to the families described above, float rider families include:

• Lynn Allred, 49, of Carteret, N.J., who received a kidney from friend Tammy Schlesinger, 43, also of Carteret;
  
  
• Nancy Eluskie, 62, of River Ridge, Mich., who donated tissue to nephew Tim Eluskie, 40, of Pinckney, Mich.;
  
  
• Derrick Floyd , 40, and son Derrick “D.J.” Floyd, Jr., 13, of Charlotte, N.C., who celebrate Derrick’s kidney transplant;
  
  
• Nimfa Melesio, 41, and daughter Susana Melesio, 18, of Berwyn, Ill., who celebrate Nimfa’s new life after a liver transplant;
  
  
• Chyrrel and Dr. Richard Mock, Jr., 57 and 65 respectively, of Edmond, Okla., who donated the tissue of their daughter Anna, who was killed in a car accident;
  
  
• Kelly Olmo, 17, who survived neonatal hepatitis by receiving a liver transplant at age two, and her mother, Cathy Olmo, 46, of Pleasanton, Calif.;
  
  
• Analia Quintanar, 19, of Bellflower, Calif., who received a kidney from her twin sister, Liliana Quintanar, of La Puente, Calif.

For complete information about the riders and float, go to the official Donate Life Rose Parade Float website at www.onelegacy.org/prod/components/rose2005.

Spearheaded by Coalition on Donation member OneLegacy, the Donate Life Rose Parade Float is supported by more than 50 official partners from across the nation, including organ and tissue recovery organizations, for-profit contributors, transplant centers and transplant recipient organizations. Many Families, One Gift will present a park scene in full blossom with families enjoying the simple pleasures of everyday life. The scene is accented by symbols of life, including water flowing gracefully in a fountain, a bridge linking people together, and a majestic full-grown tree.

The 116th Rose Parade, themed Celebrate Family, will take place on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2005 at 8:00am PST featuring spirited marching bands from throughout the nation, majestic floral floats and high-stepping equestrian units.

The 116 th Rose Parade, an event designed to encourage people to donate the “Gift of Life” through organ and tissue donation, will take place on Saturday, January 1, 2005. Organized by Coalition on Donation member OneLegacy, the 2005 Donate Life Rose Parade Float is supported by dozens of official partners from across the nation, including organ and tissue recovery organizations, for-profit contributors, transplant centers and transplant recipient organizations. The National Kidney Foundation is a member of the Coalition on Donation and is a promotional partner for this year’s float.

In following with the parade theme of Celebrate Family, the Donate Life Float is themed Many Families, One Gift. The float will feature 23 riders—representing living donors, donor family members and transplant recipients—all enjoying a sunny day in the park surrounded by symbols of life: a three-tiered water fountain, a garden bridge, an ornate gazebo and a sturdy tree. “The Rose Parade offers a unique setting to inspire people to make the commitment to donate life, discuss organ and tissue donation with their families and sign up to be donors in states with donor registries,” said David Fleming, executive director of the Coalition on Donation. The Rose Parade will feature spirited marching bands from throughout the nation, majestic floral floats and high-stepping equestrian units.