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Katy organ donor to be honored at 2011 Rose Parade

Katy Texas News
Posted November 1, 2010

Bridge to Life, Ltd and LifeGift announced that a Katy-area organ donor and his family will be honored at the 2011 Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. on New Year’s Day.

Chad Jones, son of Michael and Sheree Jones of Katy, Texas, will be remembered on the 2011 Donate Life Rose Parade Float – themed “Seize the Day!” – for saving the lives of four strangers through organ donation and countless others through the gift of tissue donation. Chad will be depicted in a floragraph –  a portrait created from all-natural, floral materials –  along with 59 other organ, eye and tissue donors from across the country whose images will adorn Donate Life’s float entry. Donor family members, living donors and transplant recipients also participate as float riders, bringing to life the 2011 Rose Parade theme, “Building Dreams, Friendships & Memories.”

“Through the gifts of organ and tissue donation, Chad and his family became heroes to those lives he saved and their loved ones,” says Aaron Gilchrist of Bridge to Life, Ltd., who is sponsoring the Jones family’s participation in the Rose Parade.  “As a company we are committed to national organ transplant awareness, and we are honored to be part of this tradition, while sharing it with such an amazing family – a family who, under the most difficult of circumstances, saw beyond their own pain and grief to help others.”

Chad, an avid car and motorcycle lover, was in a tragic accident on June 6, 2009.

“We are a family who does not want our son to be forgotten.  Even though Chad died, he is a hero and we want him to save many more lives, not just the people who received his organs,” says his mother, Sheree. “Being part of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float is yet another way for his legacy to live on and raise awareness of the importance of donation.”

In late 2009, the Jones family Michael, Sheree and Chad’s sister, Jessica, founded Donate 4 Life,  a nonprofit organization, which raises awareness of donation and encourages Texans to become registered organ and tissue donors. The family also works closely with LifeGift, the local organ and tissue recovery agency, to raise awareness of the issue.

The Glenda P. Dawson Donate Life – Texas Registry is the official organ, eye and tissue donor registry for the state of Texas.  While the number of registered donors has increased dramatically over the last year and now has more than 1.1 million registered donors, the state must continue to make progress and encourage more residents to register as donors.

Registering as an organ and tissue donor is simple and it’s free.  It can be done one of three ways:

  • Via online at donatelifetexas.org or its companion site donevida.org
  • At any Department of Public Safety (DPS) office or via online with the DPS when renewing or obtaining a driver’s license or ID.
  • Through the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when renewing vehicle registrations online.

For more information about Bridge to Life, Ltd., visit bridgetolifesolutions.com.  For more information about LifeGift, visit wwwlifegift.org.  For more information about the Donate Life Rose Parade Float, visit donatelifefloat.org.

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