DONATE LIFE ROSE PARADE FLOAT- SACRIFICE ON DISPLAY

Bryan Stewart has dedicated his professional career to promoting organ donation. (Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer)

SOURCE: Contra Costa Times

Reg Green's son Nicholas was killed 15 years ago, but his legacy has lived on in seven strangers who were saved by transplants from his organs.

And now that legacy will be highlighted for millions to see on New Year's Day when Nicholas Green's portrait will be featured along with dozens of other donors on a Rose Parade float dedicated to organ donation.

In the form of a 30-foot tall phoenix - the mythical bird symbolizing rebirth - the float will be decorated with red roses, orange and yellow chrysanthemums and violet orchids.

The real highlight will be tucked in the phoenix's tail feathers - portraits of 76 organ donors, made of crushed corn, onion seed, cinnamon and flax.

The portraits have all been prepared by relatives of the deceased donors, like Reg Green.

"Overwhelmingly there is a feeling of gladness that all these millions of people will be introduced to your loved one," Green said.

"It's been a long time since he was killed and the fact that he is still remembered is very gratifying."

Nicholas was killed at age 7 by highway robbers while vacationing with his family in Italy in 1994. His parents donated his heart, liver, two kidneys, corneas and pancreas cells to help save the lives of seven Italians.

Reg Green, who has since become a worldwide spokesman for organ donation and started a La Cañada-based foundation for the cause, said the act of preparing the portraits was therapeutic for himself and his family.

"We were all together working on this project to try and bring his image to life ... we were discussing what color exactly his eyes were, and his hair ... there was great intimacy," Green said.

"It was even a bit of a wrench to have to come home and leave the photograph."

The float is sponsored by OneLegacy, Southern California's regional organ donation processing company.

Over the past eight years, ideas for the organization's floats have stemmed from the simple, like the first year's bridge design, to bolder metaphorical statements, like a design that had colorful flowers growing out of a fallen tree to symbolize new life after death.

This year's phoenix design will be the largest and most extravagant yet.

Helping to spearhead the float-building effort is Bryan Stewart of Northridge, the nonprofit's vice president of communications.

"Every year I put a lot of heart into all of this, and in many ways it's my Christmas gift to myself," Stewart said.

Stewart's dedication had him working on a few last-minute projects on Christmas Eve morning, but for him, telling the world about the act of giving gives him the real gift.

Stewart had little experience with organ donation when he was hired in 2001, but the job quickly became almost like a calling.

Within months he helped launch California's "Donate Life" organization, which does statewide advocacy for organ donations and manages the state's massive donor registry with more than 6 million registrants. He also became board president of the nationwide "Donate Life" organization.

But one of the highest-profile jobs that Stewart has taken in the past seven years is helping to design and build the "Donate Life" Rose Parade float.

Every year more than 60 million people in 200 countries around the world sit in front of their television sets on New Year's Day to watch brilliantly decorated floats make their rounds in the annual Rose Parade.

"Every day I wake up excited ... this doesn't feel like a job," Stewart said.

"I get to share with people a beautiful message about bringing life to a situation that seems to be all about death. I am inspired every day by amazing people and amazing families."