Rose Parade « Donate Life Illinois – Organ Donation News

Donate Life Rose Dedication Program

December 7, 2009

Following up on our last post from Donate Life Rose Parade float rider Anne Gulotta, we wanted to call attention to a key part of the Rose Parade float – the Family Circle Garden. Please check out information about the Rose Dedication Program below as a great way to honor a donor.

-Scott

Anne Gulotta

A beautiful event will take place on New Years day on the Donate Life Float.

Twenty four float riders will gather at 5 a.m. Pacific time to take the ride of their life. Among all the fragrant and colorful flowers that cover the 55 foot long Donate Life float, a special area will be dedicated to the Family Circle Garden. The Family Circle Rose Dedication Program offers families touched by organ and tissue donation the opportunity to honor their loved ones by dedicating a rose that is tagged with a personal message and placed in the Family Circle Garden. The Garden is a living memorial of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float.

Families and organizations can participate. Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Ill. is one of many participating hospitals who will be participating. This is a special event, and there will be a ceremony in Pasadena focused on placing the roses on the float. Viewers will be fixated on the majestic Phoenix which rises 30 feet into the air. The extraordinary display of roses will also be a highlight.

As an Ambassador for Gift of Hope and Donate Life, my role is to promote organ donation. In doing so I would like to extend to you my service and offer to place a rose(s) in your honor of the person you are honoring. If you have never dedicated a rose on the float, I strongly urge you to do so. There will be over 3000 roses dedicated, and I hope to be photographing and documenting the event. I hear it’s a tear-jerker.

It’s easy to sign up for the program. You can read dedications that have been posted. If you have already dedicated a rose(s) let me know who you are, and I will ask permission to place the rose in your honor.

The Rose Dedication program has been a way for me and my family to honor Jay and the lives he saved. A woman by the name of “Rose” once said; “We a make a living by what we get, We make a life by what we give.”

That’s what organ donation is all about. Giving life to others. So, it’s important that we occasionally honor those who’ve been touched by organ and tissue donation.

~ Anne

4 Comments | Rose Parade | Tagged: anne gulotta, chicago, donate life rose parade float, Donor Family, illinois, organ donation, organ donor, Recipient, transplant | Permalink
Posted by Scott Meis

What “Thanks” Means to Me

November 24, 2009

Back in August, we unveiled Illinois’ 2010 Donate Life Rose Parade Float Rider, Anne Gulotta. She will be paying tribute to her husband Jay, who was a donor in 2002 in addition to honoring Cameron Chana of Clarendon Hills, Ill. who was a donor earlier this year. Both Cameron and Jay will be represented through floragraphs on the Float.

From now through December, we’ll feature a series of posts from Anne and the Chana family to help provide insight into what it means to honor organ/tissue donors and help promote the issue on a national scale through the Float.

At previous meetings with Anne, she has continually mentioned the theme of “thanks” in regard to the feelings that arise when we think of those that have given the gift of life. In light of Thanksgiving, I asked Anne to provide some further insight on the theme.

Thank you Anne and Happy T-Day and safe travels to all!

-Scott

What “Thanks” Means to Me

Anne Gulotta

I’m very excited to share my journey with you to the 2010 Rose Bowl Parade. As you may know, Steve Ferkau has passed the baton to me this year, and promised to teach me the crucial parade float crowd wave. I’ve known Steve since 2005 when we met after a photo shoot for the annual Gift of Hope calendar.

Soon after, Steve and I were presenting together, quickly earning our reputation as the Dynamic Duo. I talk about my experience as a donor family and wife, and Steve talks about the lifesaving double lung transplant he received from his donor, Kari. For that he is grateful, and gives thanks every day of his life.

You may have seen a rendition of the float A New Life Rises. A phoenix rises from the ashes bringing hope to others. My son JR is an aspiring singer songwriter. He said to me one day; “Mom, in memory of dad and in honor of the lives he saved I’m writing a song.” The melody came quickly, but the words did not. How would he express the loss of his father, and still honor those who received the gift of life? It was pretty easy for him once he gave it some thought, and soon “Thank You” was written.

In just a few days we will all give thanks to the bountiful meal put in front of us. At our house we are pretty traditional. Turkey, stuffing (two kinds), potatoes (two kinds), and a bunch of other stuff including homemade pumpkin pie. It’s a tradition in our house to go around the table and give thanks for something that has brought meaning to our lives. JR puts it eloquently in the song when he writes and I paraphrase; ” Of all these thoughts holding me, I feel strength in belief of a new life rising out of me, I can see hope in what I need, a purpose driving me.”

After Jay (my husband of 18 years) died I felt very alone, but soon I was involved with Gift of Hope delivering a message of hope, love, and strength. I’m grateful for the strength to tell my story, and the purpose that now drives me to tell my story. Sometimes we need to reach deep into our souls to look past hurt and grief to find the good and be thankful.

Jay saved many lives. His left kidney recipient is Julie. Julie would not be alive today if it wasn’t for the gift of life Jay gave to her. I’ve gotten to know Julie quit well, and I will write more about that later. I give thanks to Jay every day. Julie is an extraordinary human being. She is kind, loving, and strong. Julie, her husband Ed, and all their friends and family give thanks to organ donation, because Jay lives on. Julie is a testimony to that.

Organ donation has a ripple effect. So many lives have been touched by the gift of life that one person gave. Jay’s heart was given to a 55-year-old man, his right kidney to a 16-year-old girl, and he gave someone sight. He donated tissue too and part of his liver was donated. Life carries on, and the relationships I have formed in the past seven years are precious. I am very close to JR and my daughter Elizabeth, and although I lost my best friend and husband, I have a new friend in Julie. I say thank you to them all.

Enjoy this holiday season. Eat the turkey and savor the pumpkin pie, and when you wake up each morning, give thanks for something in your life.

-Anne

3 Comments | Rose Parade | Tagged: anne gulotta, Donor Family, organ donation, organ donor, Recipient, steve ferkau, thanksgiving, transplant | Permalink
Posted by Scott Meis

Donate Life Illinois 2010 Rose Parade Float Rider Announced

August 17, 2009

Anne Gulotta

We’re proud to announce that Donate Life Illinois volunteer and donor family member Anne Gulotta will be representing Illinois on the 2010 Donate Life Rose Parade Float! You can check out some of the excitement that surrounds being a rider on the Float as documented on YouTube by our 2009 rider, Steve Ferkau.

Below is further detail on Anne’s personal tie to the issue and we look forward to having her in Pasadena!

-Scott

In May of 2002, Anne Gullota’s beloved husband Jay died tragically leaving her with the decision on whether or not he should be an organ and tissue donor. Because their children were of driver’s license age, the family had talked about donation so when the time came to make a decision about Jay, the family consented.

This is where the story could have just ended for Anne, but for this donor family, the story had just begun. Anne began volunteering for Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, sharing her story about the importance of organ and tissue donation by speaking to medical professionals, students and community associations. Her story has been featured in several publications and she is an active member of her local hospital’s Organ and Tissue donor Committee. In 2005 Anne won the Echo of Life Award from Gift of Hope for all her hard work.

In August 2005 Anne saw the full impact of donation when she met Julie, one of Jay’s kidney recipients. “To Julie, Jay is a hero because she would not be alive today if it wasn’t for his donation. The donation process is very important to the donor families as it is to the recipients. Recipients are given the gift of life. Donor families are given a lot too, because their loved ones live on.”

Although Anne lost her best friend, she has found a new friend in Julie. It was not just Julie’s life that was touched through Jay’s donation, but that of her husband, their family and friends. “Life is fragile and sometimes the decisions we are faced with in times of crisis are difficult to make,” said Anne. “Knowing that Jay lives on gives me strength to spread the word about organ donation.”

3 Comments | Donate Life Illinois, Rose Parade | Tagged: anne gulotta, donor family member, organ donation, organ donor, rose parade float | Permalink
Posted by Scott Meis

Donate Life Unveils 2010 Rose Parade Float Design

June 22, 2009

Each year, Donate Life enters yet another awe inspiring float into the annual Rose Parade out in Pasadena, CA. The Float helps put our issue front and center for millions of viewers and brings together donor family members and recipients from across the nation to pay special tribute to organ and tissue donation.

At last week’s Donate Life America conference, the fine folks from One Legacy and Donate Life California (who do a miraculous job of heading up the effort) unveiled the new design for the 2010 Float. Below is a sketch of the Float along with some background behind its meaning.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted as the Float comes together. You can also keep tabs on the Float’s progression through the team’s dedicated Twitter account and Facebook page.

-Scott

When people say “Yes” to organ, eye and tissue donation, New Life Rises, giving hope and healing to those in need of life-saving transplants. In Donate Life’s seventh Rose Parade float entry, a phoenix, the mythical symbol of life coming out of death, rises into the sky, representing those who give life in their passing and the people whose lives are renewed by their gifts.

From a bed of nurturing flames, the majestic phoenix rises anew, its tail feathers adorned with 40 floragraphs – portraits created with floral materials – depicting loved ones who gave life to those in need. The bird soars high above 24 float riders – all transplant recipients, living donors, and family members of deceased donors – seated along a monument inspired by the National Donor Memorial’s Wall of Names. A garden inspired by the memorial’s Wall of Tears leads the float with 2,000 dedicated roses, each carrying a personal message of love, gratitude and hope to a donor, recipient or candidate for transplant.