The stories of the 76 people to be represented in “floragraphs” (artistic floral portraits) on the 2010 Donate Life Rose Parade float, New Life Rises, are equally dramatic and heart-wrenching, but they all share the same outcome: each was a donor of organs, tissue or corneas, and in 23 cases all three. More than 30 died before their 21st birthdays, yet they all made a profound difference in their young lives.

The floral images of this special group of organ, eye, and tissue donors will take center stage on the seventh Donate Life float entry in the 121st Rose Parade. The float features a phoenix, the mythical symbol of life coming out of the ashes of death and rising from a bed of flames 30 feet into the sky. The Donate Life phoenix represents those who give life in their passing and the people whose lives are renewed through transplantation. The floragraphs will be integrated into the bird’s tail feathers.

“The families of these donors have grieved the loss of their loved ones, yet they will celebrate their lives when the Donate Life float and its floragraphs journey down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day,” said Bryan Stewart, chairman of the Donate Life float committee and vice president of communications at OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ and tissue recovery organization serving the greater Los Angeles area. “We know from past experience that the process of decorating the floragraphs can be healing for the donors’ family members, and we look forward to working with them as these beautiful portraits are decorated in December.”

While some families will travel to Pasadena in December to decorate their loved ones’ floragraphs, as many as 30 portraits will be sent to families nationwide for completion in their hometowns. Most of the floragraph decorating events will be held at locations that were significant to the honoree’s life and donation, including elementary and high schools, churches, and hospitals. “Dozens of families will have the opportunity to decorate their portraits surrounded by loved ones and those in their community who were touched by the honorees’ donations,” Stewart noted. “We are grateful to the float’s floragraph sponsors for helping us create this meaningful opportunity for our honorees’ families.”

Young children memorialized with floragraphs are among the most poignant stories represented on the float. Six-month-old Isaiah Jerome Jones of Kettering, Ohio, saved the lives of two children through organ donation. Fifteen-month-old Jack Hook-Van Hecke of Monticello, Minn., donated tissue and an aortic valve to save lives while his mother, Jennifer, chose a career as a tissue recovery technician as a way to celebrate Jack’s life. Two-year-old Perlita Carillo Celis of Upland, Calif., saved three people following her death from a brain hemorrhage, motivating her mother Perla to volunteer as a Donate Life Ambassador. A similar volunteer spirit is held by Maggie Coolican, whose six-year-old daughter, Katie Coolican, collapsed suddenly and became East Hampton, Conn.’s first organ and tissue donor. In the 25 years since Katie’s passing, Maggie has become a national figure in the donation community through her bereavement programs, publications, and creation of the National Donor Family Quilt. She sewed the first 25 panels with a total of 1,750 “Patches of Love,” with Katie’s represented on the final panel. Another six-year-old donor, Spencer Patton Squire of Allen, Tex., had been an avid sports enthusiast whose legacy can be found in multiple scholarships, memorials, and tournaments in his home state. And seven-year-old Kiethen Taylor of Memphis, Tenn. is remembered for his short life and life-saving organ, eye and tissue donations by a crepe myrtle tree planted by classmates.

As 85 million Americans have already done, several of the honorees had enrolled in their respective state organ and tissue donor registries prior to death. For the families of Cameron L. Chana of Clarendon Hills, Ill.; Lee John Davis of Lafayette, La.; Bronson Parsons of Troy, Mont.; Ronald Snipes of Green Sea, SC; and Jessica Marie Ward of Washington, D.C., the certainty of their loved ones’ decisions as documented in the donor registry eased the donation process at a difficult time. Among the donors who were not registered, some, like Michael E. Creighton of Arnaudville, La., had talked about their donation decision with their family, which provided a source of comfort amid great emotional turmoil. In gratitude for his gift of life, Creighton’s liver recipient endowed a grant program to encourage hospitals nationwide to honor their donors with dedicated roses through the float’s Donate Life Family Circle program.

More than 28,000 lives are saved each year in the U.S. through the gift of organ donation, giving hope to the more than 104,000 people awaiting a life-saving organ transplant. In addition, every year hundreds of thousands of people need donated corneas and tissue to prevent or cure blindness, heal burns or save limbs.

The 2010 Donate Life float will also carry 24 riders, some of whom are mentioned above, who have their own important stories to tell. In addition, donors across the country will be memorialized in a garden of hundreds of roses dedicated through the Donate Life Family Circle program, with each rose vial carrying a personal message of love, hope and remembrance.

Coordinated by Donate Life America member OneLegacy, the national Donate Life float campaign is supported by approximately 60 official partners from coast to coast, including organ and tissue recovery organizations, tissue banks, state donor registries, transplant centers and affiliated organizations. Joining OneLegacy as top-level benefactors are Astellas Pharma US, Inc., a fourth-year sponsor of five float riders through the "Ride of a Lifetime" contest and supporter of 1,000 volunteer decorators; the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB); the Dignity Memorial® network; Donate Life America; and UNOS and the National Donor Memorial. All float partners encourage parade viewers to save lives by registering in their states to be organ, eye and tissue donors and donating blood in their communities.

Coordinated by Donate Life America member OneLegacy, the national Donate Life float campaign is supported by approximately 60 official partners from coast to coast, including organ and tissue recovery organizations, tissue banks, state donor registries, transplant centers and affiliated organizations. Joining OneLegacy as top-level benefactors are Astellas Pharma US, Inc., a fourth-year sponsor of five float riders through the "Ride of a Lifetime" contest and supporter of 1,000 volunteer decorators; the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB); the Dignity Memorial® network, North America's largest network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers and sponsor of four floragraphs; Donate Life America; and UNOS and the National Donor Memorial. All float partners encourage parade viewers to save lives by registering in their states to be organ, eye and tissue donors and donating blood in their communities.