Hope Blooms: Organ Donation, the Rose Parade, and Our Journey to Save Lives

Stewart movingly chronicles the story of how the subject of organ and tissue donation became the centerpiece of beautiful floral tributes in Pasadena, Calif.’s famous Rose Parade (“America’s New Year Celebration”). As chair of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee, he is uniquely well-equipped to write this detailed, 12-year account of how the idea of publicizing organ donations at the Rose Parade, first hatched in 2002, became a reality. Themes executed have included 2004’s A Symphony of Life, 2006’s Life Transformed, 2008’s Life Takes Flight, and 2010’s New Life Rises. Floats have introduced recipients to their donors, or to the families of their donors, for the first time, and have united fellow recipients with each other—a pair of riders invited onto the float one year had received heart transplants at the same time and hospital while they were still infants. The Donate Life initiative has also shed light on lesser-known organ donation streams, such as living donation kidney chains, in which would-be donors incompatible with their preferred recipient instead pass the donation onto someone else in need. Stewart’s passion for his cause shines through this inspiring narrative. [em](BookLife) [/em]