Child organ donor to be honored in Rose Parade
by Jennifer Cohron | Daily Mountain Eagle


Savannah Faith Sides used to tell her family that she was going to Hollywood one day. Her dream will come true on New Year’s Day, though not in the way she hoped or her parents expected.

Savannah, who died in a car accident when she was 5 years old, will represent Alabama on the Donate Life float in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif.

Her mother, Sandy Sides, received the news recently from the Alabama Organ Center that Savannah was one of five donors in the state chosen for the honor. A rose dedicated to Savannah will appear in the float’s Family Circle Garden.

“It means a lot to us,” Sides said.

The theme for this year’s Donate Life float is “Seize the Day,” and Sides said that her daughter did just that every day of her short life.

A month before her death in 2007, Savannah insisted that she be allowed to sign up as an organ donor when she saw her parents registering online.

Sides said she took her daughter in her lap and explained that becoming an organ donor was a very mature decision for a little girl to make.

Savannah had an answer that was wise beyond her years.

“She said, ‘Mommy, I’m not going to need them when I get to heaven. You need to sign me up,’” Sides said.

Neither one knew that one month later they would be involved in a car accident when someone fell asleep at the wheel and hit them head-on while they were on their way to Curry Elementary School.

Sides kept her word. Because of Savannah’s decision to become an organ donor, an 18-month-old girl named Alexis received a liver transplant. She is 5 today and doing well.

Savannah’s kidneys, eye tissue and heart valves helped others.

Sides and her husband, Stephen, also host the Savannah Faith Miracle Ride each year in their daughter’s memory. Nearly $5,000 was raised when the event was held in May.

The beneficiary of next year’s ride is Jessica Carter, a 23-year-old local women who is waiting for a kidney transplant.

Sides said the rides help her family heal as much as the patients who receive the proceeds.

“It makes us feel like Savannah didn’t die in vain. We’re trying to make something good out of it by helping someone else,” Sides said