Press Enterprise | Janet Zimmerman
Riverside teen Johnny Orta flashed smiles and waves for hundreds and thousands of people along the Tournament of Roses parade route Monday from the front of the Donate Life float – a spot he earned when he gave one of his kidneys to his twin brother in a successful 2010 transplant operation.
Orta, 17, was one of numerous Inland residents participating or honored on the Donate Life float, including numerous deceased donors, all of them children.
The Riverside Community College marching band also played the opening production number and marched the 5.5-mile route playing “Strike up the Band” and “Celebration.”
The experience was more than words can explain, said Orta, who perched on a seat under a colorful clock face bearing floragraphs – pictures made from flowers – of organ and tissue donors who have died.
“You see all these people in the stands and they’re showing you their scars because they were donors or recipients. Any of those people could be in your spot on the float,” said Orta, adding that one lifted his shirt and pointed to a scar on his chest.
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