Almost 2,000 Hispanics donate organs every year in the United States, saving countless lives in the process, a contribution that will be recognized by the Donate Life float taking part in the 123rd Rose Parade in Pasadena. Five Hispanic men have been chosen to ride on the float as recognition for their gift of life to others through living donation or for the role they played in a deceased loved one's donation.
A father, a brother and a husband will echo the experience of those whose loved one saved lives after passing away. Alex Rodriguez of Cicero, Illinois, brother of boxer Francisco "Paco" Rodriguez, who died from injuries in a title bout yet saved five lives through organ donation; Juan Espino of Fort Worth, Texas, husband of Stella Espino who suffered a brain hemorrhage as they prepared to celebrate 25 years of marriage, and saved 8 lives after her passing; and Arnold Pérez of Los Angeles, Calif., whose son lost his life in a sledding accident when he was six years-old and saved four people, including a girl who received his liver and is now a grown woman in close contact with the family.
Representing living donation will be riders Max Zapata of Clovis, Calif., and Johnny Orta of Riverside, Calif. Zapata was an altruistic donor that started a ten kidney transplant chain to help a college student he had never met who was suffering from renal failure. For Johnny Orta, his kidney donation was personal: to his identical twin brother Jake at age 16 - one of the rare instances of living donation by a minor.
"Our riders were carefully selected to represent the millions of people who participate in and benefit from organ, eye, and tissue donation and transplantation," said Bryan Stewart, chairman of the Donate Life Float Committee and vice president of communications at OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ and tissue organization serving the greater Los Angeles area. "We hope that with their stories they inspire others to donate and register to be donors at their local department of motor vehicles or online, at www.donatelife.net or its Spanish counterpart, www.donevida.org."
Ten deceased Hispanic organ and tissue donors will be honored with floral portraits or "floragraphs" that will be decorated with natural materials by their families and placed on the float before the parade. In total, 72 memorial portraits of deceased donors, whose gifts of organs and tissues add years and quality of life to those in need of transplants, will adorn "…One More Day", Donate Life's ninth Rose Parade entry. The importance of the Hispanic community's contribution to organ and tissue donation is also highlighted by presenting the float's logo in Spanish, "Done Vida," alongside the English logo.
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