The 30 riders range in age from 18 to 77, and hail from 19 states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia – and Taiwan. Their lives have been affected by a broad spectrum of challenges and salvations, all connected by one common denominator: the gift of life.

"Our float riders have shown what it means to 'Light Up the World' by virtue of their survival and service to their local communities," reflected Bryan Stewart, chairman of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee and vice president of communications at OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ and tissue organization serving the greater Los Angeles area. "We are inspired by the 2014 Rose Parade theme, "Dreams Come True," to spotlight individuals who embody what organ, eye and tissue donation makes possible in the hope that viewers will be inspired to register as donors."

Because the conditions allowing donation to occur are rare, many millions of committed donors are required to help those in need. A single organ donor can save the lives of eight people through organ donation, while a tissue donor can save and heal 50 or more lives through the gifts of heart valves, corneas, skin, bone, and tendons that mend hearts, cure blindness, restore mobility and overcome burns.

Three riders courageously struggled through their teens and beyond with diabetes, which affects more than 25 million people nationwide, before living free of insulin injections through pancreas transplants. For Linda Ramos (Schererville, Ill.), a donated sclera helped prevent blindness that was treated around the time of her uncommon pancreas-only transplant. Faith Carlin (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Nita French (Norman, Okla.) gave birth to children after receiving life-saving kidney-pancreas transplants, and Julie Allred (Concord, N.C.) received two pancreatic islet cell transplants that freed her from life-threatening episodes of hypoglycemia.

Three riders were inspired by their liver transplant experience to help individuals and families undertake their own transplant journeys. Debbie Morgan (Riverside, Calif.) serves as president of the United Organ Transplant Association; Richard Perez (Rochester, N.Y.) helps patients at Strong Memorial Hospital prepare for transplant; and Amy Tippins (Norcross, Ga.) volunteers at Camp Independence, which hosts families affected by organ transplants.

The transplantation of lungs saved the lives of two riders on opposite ends of their careers. California State Senator Sharon Runner (Sacramento, Calif.) was able to complete her term in the legislature and continue her decades of public service, while Madison Shinaberry (Harrisonburg, Va.) was able to return to her study of ballet, the passion of her young life.

Arthur Joven "AJ" Reyes (Fairfield, Calif.) had his college years interrupted by a viral infection that led to the need for a heart transplant, while Connor Randall (Arvada, Colo.) received his first heart transplant before he could walk and his second before he entered the eighth grade. Today both are active college students with bright futures ahead of them.

Gregory Welsh (Goodyear, Ariz.) has experienced both sides of donation. Fifteen years after his wife became an organ donor, he received a transplant that freed him from an artificial heart. Another heart recipient, Brian Keith Gilliam (Huffman, Tex.) was inspired to spearhead the effort to bring the 2014 Transplant Games of America to Houston.

Three Donate Life float riders were freed from a life of dialysis by living donors. For John Cervantes (Chino, Calif.) and Craig Hostert (Fullerton, Calif.), family members came to their rescue: John received a kidney from his brother Michael, and Craig's son Justin donated a kidney to him 14 years after he received the same gift from his wife Kathleen. JePahl White's wife LaKishia (Fresno, Calif.) was not a biological match for her husband, but through a paired exchange he received a kidney from Jessica Jurado, while LaKishia donated to a recipient in Philadelphia. All five living donors will be among a contingent of 12 walkers who will accompany the float on its five-mile journey.

The 2014 Donate Life Rose Parade Float entry features a festival of lanterns illuminating 30 riders and 12 living organ donors walking alongside the entire five-mile route. The float's five enormous lanterns are adorned with 78 memorial floragraph portraits of deceased donors whose legacies of life shine brightly. The riders are seated throughout a dedication garden filled with thousands of roses bearing personal messages of love, hope and remembrance.

Tissue and bone donors were essential to help three riders recover from devastating injuries that threatened their way of life. Edward A. Bonfiglio (Runnemede, N.J.) took a round in Afghanistan that severed his sciatic nerve; new father David Jenkins (Grand Junction, Colo.) lost one leg and nearly lost his other leg in an industrial accident; and the femur of Harry Rambo (Alachua, Fla.) was shattered in a skydiving accident. All are thankful for the gifts of tissue donation that made it possible for them to return to fully active lives.

In addition, two riders demonstrate how common problems – breast reconstruction and back surgery – can be resolved through tissue donation. Sue Herrick Pilon (Wyandotte, Mich.) is the third generation to have breast cancer. A dermal allograft (donated tissue) served as the base on which her breast could be reconstructed. Katharine Lawrence (Pattenburg, N.J.) was able to get back to a life of service to others after donor tissue and bone were used to fuse vertebrae in her third back surgery.

Since its debut on New Year's Day 2004, the Donate Life Rose Parade float has become the world's most visible campaign to inspire people to become organ, eye, and tissue donors. The campaign began as an idea expressed in a letter by lung recipient Gary Foxen of Orange, Calif., who wanted to show gratitude to donors who make life-saving transplants possible. Now, in addition to the 40 million viewers who view the Rose Parade in the stands and on TV, hundreds of events are held in cities and towns around the country to put the finishing touches on floragraph portraits and present dedicated roses to donor families and community partners that play a role in making donation possible.

The 2014 Donate Life float is built by Phoenix Decorating Company from a design by Dave Pittman and is coordinated by Los Angeles-based OneLegacy, the world's largest organ, eye and tissue recovery organization. Each year, the Donate Life float campaign is supported by more than 140 official sponsors from coast to coast, including organ, eye and tissue recovery organizations, tissue processors, hospitals, transplant centers, state donor registries, funeral homes, donor family foundations and affiliated organizations. Joining OneLegacy as top-level benefactors are:

• American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), which is dedicated to ensuring that human tissues intended for transplantation are safe and free of infectious disease, of uniform high quality, and available in quantities sufficient to meet national needs;
• Dignity Memorial^® network, North America's largest network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers;
• Donate Life America, a nonprofit alliance of national organizations and state teams across the United States committed to increasing organ, eye and tissue donation;
• Donate Life Run/Walk Committee, the Orange County-based producer of the nation's largest donation-themed 5K fundraising event;
• Josiah's House, a Tennessee-based nonprofit ministering to boys in the Dominican Republic in honor of Josiah Berger;
• The Order of St. Lazarus, an international community of Christian men and women devoted to ecumenical spirituality, worldwide charity and chivalric tradition;
• SightLife, a nonprofit eye bank focused on eliminating corneal blindness in the United States and worldwide; and
• TBI/Tissue Banks International, a nonprofit network of eye and tissue banks and the largest provider of ocular tissue in the world.

"Every single person who takes action to be a donor gives hope to the nearly 120,000 people across America waiting for their dream – a life-saving organ transplant – to come true," said Stewart. "In addition to the lives saved by deceased donors, approximately 6,000 lives per year are saved by living kidney and liver donors."

The Donate Life Rose Parade Float's family of sponsors urges viewers to help make dreams come true for more than one million people in need of life-saving and healing organ, tissue and cornea transplants. Join America's 113 million registered donors so that everyone whose life and livelihood depends on a transplant can have one. Sign up when renewing your driver's license or by visiting www.DonateLifeAmerica.org.

The Pasadena Tournament of Roses is a volunteer organization that annually hosts the Rose Parade presented by Honda, Rose Bowl Game^® presented by VIZIO and various associated events. The 125th Rose Parade presented by Honda, themed "Dreams Come True," will take place Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, at 8 a.m. (PST) featuring majestic floral floats, high-stepping equestrian units and spirited marching bands. Following the parade, the 100th Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO will kick off at 2:10 p.m. and feature an exciting match-up between two of the top collegiate football teams in the nation. For additional information on the Tournament of Roses please visit the official website at www.tournamentofroses.com.

For information call Rivian Bell, JDI Communications, (213) 612-4927 or Bryan Stewart, (213) 229-5650.