Honorees' stories highlight the healing power of cornea, skin, bone and musculoskeletal tissue grafts, as well as the lifesaving power of organ donation

Two women whose lives were saved and healed thanks to the generosity of others through tissue donation will be among the 56 participants on the 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade® float on New Year’s Day.

The 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life float, Woven Together: The Dance of Life is the centerpiece of a regional and national effort to reach a broad audience with the important message that organ, eye and tissue donation saves and heals lives. The two tissue recipients, along with 26 floral portraits or floragraphs of cornea and tissue donors, represent the healing and transformational power of tissue donation.

“Thanks to tissue donors, millions of people are healed every year, and thousands of lives are saved,” said Marc Pearce, President and CEO of the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). “We are honored to co-sponsor tissue recipient Joceline Pérez Hernández on the 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life float. We look forward to sharing the important message of saying 'YES' to tissue donation with the world at the Rose Parade® on New Year’s Day.”

Tissue from one single donor can improve the lives of more than 75 people. Lifesaving tissues that can be donated include heart valves and skin grafts for burn survivors. Other tissues that are crucial to help heal and restore mobility include bone, ligament and nerve allografts.

The 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life Float tissue recipients include the following float riders:

Joceline Perez Hernandez is a bone tissue recipient from San Bernardino. After falling during a hike with her family and experiencing pain, doctors discovered that Joceline had a benign tumor located below her left knee. Joceline underwent surgery using an osteochondral tissue graft, utilizing donated cartilage and bone tissue. These donations saved Joceline’s leg. Thanks to her donor, Joceline is about to be the first registered nurse in her entire family. She continues sharing her testimony to encourage others and she enjoys spending time with family, planning her wedding, and working as a certified nurse’s assistant.

Diana Ladio is a professional violinist and fiddle player. After being diagnosed with an osteochondral defect and living in pain for years, Diana underwent osteochondral allograft transplantation of both the patella and trochlea, along with a tibial tubercle osteotomy. The gift of donor cartilage returned Diana to her calling - bringing joy to people worldwide through music - and continuing her passion for running and the outdoors.

The OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade float is made possible thanks to more than 27 sponsors. The 2024 float will honor 56 participants, including 22 riders and walkers who are either living donors, or organ and tissue recipients.

As the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, eye and tissue donation, the OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade float inspires viewers to help the over 1 million people in need of organ, eye or tissue transplants each year. Register today to become an organ, eye or tissue donor by visiting registerme.org

The American Association of Tissue Banks

The American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) is a professional, nonprofit, scientific, and educational organization. AATB is the only national tissue banking organization in the United States, and its membership totals more than 120 accredited tissue banks and over 7,000 individual members. These banks recover tissue from more than 70,000 donors and distribute in excess of 3.3 million allografts for more than 2.5 million tissue transplants performed annually in the U.S. The overwhelming majority of the human tissue distributed for these transplants comes from AATB-accredited tissue banks.

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