Loma Linda University Medical Center Transplantation Institute patients, doctors and volunteers add color to 2011 Donate Life Rose Parade Float

Source: Highland Community News

PASADENA, CA – Dec. 30, 2010 – A Rose Parade float dedicated to organ and tissue donation has been made more colorful and vibrant, thanks to the meticulous work and attention to detail of patients, doctors and staff from Loma Linda University Medical Center Transplantation Institute.

Twenty volunteers from the institute went to Pasadena on Wednesday, Dec. 29, to help decorate the Donate Life float, which will be among those to be featured on the world-famous Rose Parade on New Year’s Day. The volunteers included bone marrow transplant donors, recipients, transplant doctors and other volunteers.

“I grew up watching the Rose Parade on TV and it’s incredible that I am now here helping to make it happen,” said Victor Villalobos, 25, of Upland. Victor received a bone marrow transplant and is the Transplantation Institute’s sponsored float rider. He is the first bone marrow transplant patient to ride on the Donate Life Rose Parade float, and he said he hopes to encourage people to become living donors.

“The list of people who need organs and tissues is growing and I hope people will find it in their heart to become a donor,” he said. He expressed thanks for his donor for giving him a new lease on life.


The 2011 Donate Life Rose Parade float entry has for its title “Seize the Day!,” calling on all people to live life to the fullest and save lives as organ, eye and tissue donors.