Two Cornea and Tissue Recipients and 17 Tissue Donors to Represent the Healing Power of Cornea and Tissue Donation at the 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade® Float
December 24 2024 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
One 3-time cornea recipient, one tissue recipient and 17 cornea
and tissue donors will be honored on the 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life
float, which will ride down the streets of Pasadena during the
iconic Rose Parade® on New Year’s Day.
The 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life float, Let Your Life Soar,
is the centerpiece of a regional and national effort to reach
millions of people who watch the Rose Parade with the important
message that organ, eye and tissue donation saves and heals lives.
The two tissue recipients, along with 17 floral portraits or
floragraphs of cornea and tissue donors, represent the healing and
transformational power of tissue donation.
“Cornea and tissue donors can transform and improve the lives of
millions of people every year,” said Tom Mone, Chief External
Affairs Officer at OneLegacy and OneLegacy Donate Life float’s
Co-Chair. “We look forward to sharing the important message of
saying 'YES' to tissue donation with the world at the Rose Parade®
on New Year’s Day.”
More than 75 lives can be improved with the gift of tissues from
one single donor. Tissues that are crucial to save lives and help
heal and restore mobility include heart valves, skin grafts for
burn survivors, bone, ligament and nerve allografts. Each year,
approximately 58,000 tissue donors provide lifesaving and healing
tissue for transplant. Approximately 2.5 million tissue transplants
are performed every year.
The 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life Float cornea and tissue
recipients include:
- Jessica Horton, honored by OneLegacy:
Diagnosed with congenital glaucoma at six weeks old, Jessica’s
doctors predicted that she would experience complete blindness
after she lost her left eye. Despite this prediction, Jessica kept
the vision in her right eye well into her twenties. A few days
before her 31st birthday, Jessica learned she was a candidate for a
cornea transplant. She was moved to tears knowing she could regain
her vision and could finally see again. This gift of sight changed
her life completely. Jessica was soon able to return to work, all
thanks to her donor family and their precious gift of sight. She
could also later see her two beautiful daughters, who are the light
of her life. As of today, Jessica has received two additional
corneal transplants.
- Michael Rizzo, honored by NJ Sharing Network with MTF
Biologics: Michael Rizzo has dedicated his life to
serving others as a paramedic and police officer. Two decades ago,
his commitment to public service was challenged when an arm
fracture threatened to end his career. Thanks to the generosity of
a tissue donor, Michael's arm was successfully reconstructed,
allowing him to continue saving and protecting lives. Years later,
Michael was diagnosed with a serious heart condition. A successful
heart transplant gave Michael a second chance at life.
According to the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA), in
2023, over 50,925 people in the United States received a cornea
transplant, with eye banks providing tissue for more than 78,000
sight-restoring corneal transplants globally.
17 cornea and tissue donors healed the lives of over one
thousand children and adults. These donors are going to be honored
on the 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life float with a floral portrait or
floragraph.
Celebrating 22 years of participation in the traditional Rose
Parade® New Year’s Day celebrations, the OneLegacy Donate Life Rose
Parade® Float is the world’s most visible campaign to inspire
organ, eye and tissue donation and to deliver the simple and
powerful message that donation saves and heals lives. The 2025
float would not be possible without the help of more than 20
sponsors, including organ procurement organizations, transplant
centers, hospitals, community partners and organ, eye and tissue
donation advocacy organizations.
To learn more about the OneLegacy Donate Life float, visit
onelegacyfloat.org.
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Tania Llavaneras (213) 503-9285 Tllavaneras@onelegacy.org