CTDN NEWS RELEASE
“Light Up the World,” a Tournament of Roses Parade float honoring organ and tissue donors on New Year’s Day 2014, will include a remembrance of a Reno infant whose gifts saved two lives. The Donate Life Rose Parade has announced that a likeness of Audrey Jade Hope Sullenger will be one of 81 donors depicted on the float. She is the daughter of Felicia Hill of Reno.
Audrey will be honored at an event at Renown Medical Center at 1 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 19, as her family completes a floral portrait that will be placed on the float.
Audrey was only in this world for a few short days, yet she left a legacy that won’t soon be forgotten. In 2011 her mother was holding her three-day-old baby in her arms when Audrey stopped breathing. When it was later determined her daughter was brain dead, Felicia chose to donate her organs and tissues. As a result, a baby received a new heart, and a 38-year-old woman received kidneys and the chance to be free from dialysis.
Felicia recently met the parents and the two-and-a-half-year-old Canadian toddler whose heart was failing at the time she received the transplant and has met the woman who received her daughter’s kidneys.
Felicia will be at the parade as the float passes down Colorado Avenue in this New Year Day tradition.
RSVP with the number attending to Wendy Knorr, wknorr@ ctdn.org or 775-741-0510, by Dec.16.
About the California Transplant Donor Network
The California Transplant Donor Network saves and improves lives by facilitating organ and tissue donation for transplantation. It partners with 175 hospitals in 41 Northern and Central California and Northern Nevada counties to offer the option of organ and tissue donation to families whose loved ones have died, coordinates deceased organ and tissue recovery and placement to waiting transplant recipients. Through its public education efforts, the hope that every resident will choose to become a donor is possible. The California Transplant Donor Network is federally designated as the region’s organ recovery organization. For information, call 888-570-9400 or visit www.ctdn.org.
