Young Organ Donors Honored by Children's Hospital

The following is a contributed story courtesy of Herbert Atienza, spokesman with Loma Linda University Medical Center

Staff at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit held a Donate Life Rose Ceremony on Friday, Dec. 20, to honor the memory of 16 children who helped others in need by becoming organ and tissue donors in 2013.

At the event, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff wrote inspirational messages into rose vials that will carry a fresh rose and will adorn the “rose dedication garden” of the Donate Life float, which will be featured at the 125th Rose Parade in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.

“This rose dedication event is not only to honor those young children who gave of themselves to help others, but also to recognize the staff’s commitment and hard work to make these precious gifts happen,” said Dr. Shamel Abd-Allah, medical director of the LLUCH Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

LLUCH joins more than 140 organizations and hundreds of people nationwide who will contribute dedicated roses to the Donate Life float, whose theme is “Light Up the World.”

The Donate Life Rose Parade entry for the 2014 Rose Parade features a festival of lanterns illuminating 30 riders, who are all organ and tissue transplant recipients, and 12 living organ donors walking alongside to demonstrate their ongoing vitality. Loma Linda University Health is sponsoring Chino police officer John Cervantes, a kidney transplant recipient, as a rider on the float; and his brother and donor, Michael, as a walker alongside.

The float will also be adorned with 72 memorial floragraph portraits of deceased donors, to represent how their legacies of life shine brightly.