Latinos Organ Donors Honored At Rose Parade

Latino organ donors are being recognized at this year’s Rose Parade, on the Donate Life float,  although this year’s floats is co-branded Done Vida (donate life). Five Latino organ donors were selected to ride on the float, and 10 deceased Latino organ donors were memorialized on the float with floral photographs, but a total of 72  the Latino organ and tissue donors will be memorialized on the float.

The “…One More Day” float riders this year include:

• Alex Rodriguez of Cicero, Illinois, brother of boxer Francisco “Paco” Rodriguez, who died from injuries in a title bout yet saved five lives through organ donation.
• Juan Espino of Fort Worth, Texas, husband of Stella Espino who suffered a brain hemorrhage as they prepared to celebrate 25 years of marriage, and saved 8 lives after her passing.
• Arnold Perez of Los Angeles, Calif., whose son lost his life in a sledding accident when he was six years-old and saved four people, including a girl who received his liver and is now a grown woman in close contact with the family.
• Max Zapata of Clovis, Calif.
• Johnny Orta of Riverside, Calif. Zapata, an altruistic donor that started a 10 kidney transplant chain to help a college student he had never met who was suffering from renal failure.

What’s more, this year’s Rose Parade Grand Marshall is J.R. Martinez, an Iraq war veteran who received skin transplants. As we’ve reported, Latinos need to become blood donors on a greater scale, since blood and tissue for different ethnic groups may be an easier match, the same could be said of organ donation.