BY ELIZABETH NIXON
FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
FULLERTON – As Fullerton resident Dave Hollon helps ready the Donate Life float for the Rose Parade, he's reminded of the myriad of stories people touched by organ donation have to share with the public.
Hollon, 50, is a two-time organ recipient. He received a kidney from his brother, a living donor, and a pancreas from a 16-year-old who died in a car accident. He is one of 28 chosen to ride the float this year.
He spent the first weekend of December decorating the float, recreating the faces of donors from photographs, transforming all-natural materials such as rice, seeds and coffee grounds into 60 floragraph likenesses.
"There are a lot of folks out there still in desperate need of a transplant. I hope I can facilitate and encourage that blessing to come to someone else," Hollon said.
He works with cities, schools and two area DMV offices as a One Legacy/Donate Life ambassador to raise awareness for organ donation. One Legacy is an organ procurement organization under Donate Life, a nationwide nonprofit that encourages organ and tissue donor sign-ups.
Each day, about 77 people in the United States receive organ transplants. But at the same time, about 19 people each day die waiting for a transplant, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Hollon, a procurement agent for Boeing Co., has been an active ambassador for Donate Life since 2006.
"Dave is an integral part of putting on the annual Donate Life Run/Walk," said Kathleen Hostert, One Legacy's community programs supervisor. "And every year, he's there helping with the float."
The run/walk was founded by Hostert, who is a kidney donor.
Hollon's health problems stretch back to 1993, when at age 33 he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. A little under a decade later, he learned his kidneys were failing. He says the grim diagnosis was especially hard-hitting because it fell on Sept. 11, 2001.
He began dialysis in 2002, and was put on the list for a kidney. But he knew the average wait for the organ is more than three years.
By the second year of dialysis, Hollon's health declined rapidly and he began to develop congestive heart failure. Hollon's brother, Mike, stepped up to be tested as a donor.
"It was incredible. I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel. The only thing that kept me going was knowing Mike was there," Hollon said.
On April 6, 2004, the brothers had their surgeries; both were successful.
Post surgery, Hollon said he was grateful to be able to ride bikes again with his son. Just a year earlier he'd had trouble pedaling five blocks from his house. He recalls son, Michael, then 7, eagerly asking the surgeon whether his father would be able to ride bikes.
"That's what the transplant was able to let me do: enjoy the small things in life," Hollon said.
But, he was still diabetic. In 2004, his doctors told him he was a good candidate for a pancreas transplant. Fourteen months later, he received 16-year-old Lacey Rodias' pancreas and has since been diabetes-free.
He was able to meet Rodias' parents while dedicating a rose in her honor and in honor of his brother on the 2006 Donate Life Rose Parade float. Over the years, Hollon and the Rodias family have kept in touch.
"That's part of why the whole float experience is very special to me," Hollon said. "It was through the float that I first met my pancreas donor family."
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